LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 5 



'|lmg. 



^& 






UNITED STATES OP 



AMERICA. | 



THE 



Art of Teaching School. 



A MANUAL OF SUGGESTIONS 

FOR THE USE OF 

TEACHERS AND SCHOOL AUTHORITIES, SUPERINTEND- 

ENTS, CONTROLLERS, DIRECTORS, TRUSTEES AND 

PATRONS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND HIGHER 

INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING. 



HOW TO ESTABLISH, ORGANIZE, GOVERN AND TEACH SCHOOLS 
OF ALL GRADES, AND WHAT TO TEACH. 



By J. R. SYPHER, 

Author of "History of Pennsylvania," "History of New Jersey," 
"American Popular Speaker," etc 



NEIV EDITION. 



tiqjCffe'- 



PHILADELPHIA: A 
J. M. STODDART & CO. 
J. A. BANCROFT & CO. 

CHICAGO AND INDIANAPOLIS: 

A. H. ANDREWS & CO. 

ST. LOUIS: 

WESTERN PUBLISHING AND SCHOOL FURNISHING CO. 



L&I02.S 
.Sit 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

J. M. STODDART & CO., 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Westcott & Thomson, Henry B. Ashmead, 

Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada. Printer, Philada. 



PREFACE. 



The State establishes public schools for the 
economical education of youth, in the element- 
ary departments of useful knowledge. These 
schools are supported by a general tax, and are 
for the use of all the people. Whenever, by 
systems of organization, by courses of study 
or by methods of instruction, their usefulness 
is impaired, the object of the State is defeated, 
and the Commonwealth suffers injury. In some 
portions of the United States this defeat and 
this injury are already experienced. This book 
has been written in the belief that its contents 
will assist those, who are laboring, as school offi- 
cers, teachers and patrons, to restore the system 
of public education to its normal life, and to 
make the public schools serve the ends for which 
they were established. 

Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1871. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

EDUCATION. 13 

General Principles 13 

The Mind — Natural Order of Development 14 

The Sources of Knowledge 16 

Methods of Acquiring Knowledge 19 

The Operation of the Faculties 20 

The Importance of Methodical Development of 

the Intellect 21 

Conditions for the Process of Educating 23 

Natural Process to be Encouraged 24 

Public-School Education 25 

Professional Training for Teachers 30 



CHAPTER II. 

DISCIPLINE 32 

Governing Forces 32 

The Uses of Discipline 35 

Theory without Practice 36 

Natural and Artificial Systems 38 

Scope of Public-School Education 40 

The Importance of the Physical Sciences 42 

1* 5 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III 

PAGB 

SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 45 

Local Authorities 45 

Duties of Local Authorities .46 

schoolhouses 47 

Furniture 48 

The Grounds 49 

City Schoolhouses 50 

School-Term .".... 51 

Course of Study 53 

Adoption of Books 56 

Salary 60 

Examination and Employment of Teachers — Higher 

Qualifications — Professional Certificates 63 

Supervision — Out of School 68 

CHAPTER IV. 

ORGANIZATION. 74 

Visiting Patrons 74 

Order of Exercises 76 

The Time-Table 78 

Classification 80 

Forming Classes 81 

Assigning Lessons 82 

Graded Schools 82 

CHAPTER V. 

MANAGEMENT. 84 

The First Lesson 84 

Number of Studies 91 

Three Studies Enough 92 

Thoroughness Necessary 93 



CONTENTS. 7 



PAGH 



Highest Results Required 95 

Study 96 

The Object of Study 97 

Utility of Knowledge 98 

Study Useful for Discipline 99 

Studying a Lesson 102 

Uses of Recitation . 104 

On Conducting Recitations 105 

Forcible Illustrations 107 

CHAPTER VI. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 109 

National Peculiarities 109 

Foreigners and English Articulation 11 1 

METHODS OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET 113 

THE- LETTER METHOD— Teaching from a Book— Teach- 
ing from Charts — Teaching from Blocks — Teaching on 

Slates and Blackboard 113 

THE WORD METHOD— Teaching from Blackboard— Teach- 
ing from Charts — Teaching from Books 121 

Slates for Children 126 

ORTHOGRAPHY 127 

Spelling from Sight 127 

Spelling from Perception — From Dictation 129 

General Exercises in Spelling , 132 

Pronunciation and Articulation 134 

The Vocal Organs 139 

The Organs of Articulation — Labials— Labio-dentals 

— Lingua-dentals — Lingua-gutturals 140 

TABLE OF ELEMENTS -Vowels— Subvocals— Aspirates... 141 

Cognates.................. 142 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII 



PAGH 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 145 

READING 145 

Beginning to Read 146 

The First Reading Lesson 148 

Correcting Faulty Styles 150 

Reading too Much 151 

The Second Stage 152 

Rules — Pitch — Force — Articulation — Accent — Emphasis 
— Inflection — Rising Inflection — Falling Inflection — Cir- 
cumflex 155 

General Observations 164 

DECLAMATION— Selecting [Pieces— Preparation— Rehears- 
ing 167 

COMPOSITION 170 



CHAPTER VIII. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 171 

ARITHMETIC 171 

Notation and Numeration 172 

Addition 176 

Subtraction 177 

Multiplication 179 

Division. 180 

Denominate Numbers 181 

Fractions — What is a Fraction? — Numerator and De- 
nominator ? — Relations of the Numerator and Denomi- 
nator to each other 183 

Operations in Fractions — Reduction of Fractions — 

Multiplication of Fractions — Division of Fractions 187 

Proportion — A Lesson in Proportion 191 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGJT 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 201 

GEOGRAPHY— The Earth's Surface 202 

Day and Night 206 

The Seasons 209 

Races of Men 211 

Maps and Books 211 

Map Drawing 212 



CHAPTER X. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 214 

BOTANY 214 

First Series of Lessons 216 

Second Series of Lessons 219 

Classification 222 

GEOLOGY 227 

scenographical geology 228 

Economical Geology 231 



CHAPTER XL 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 234 

GRAMMAR 234 

The First Lesson in Grammar 237 

Second Lesson 239 

Third Lesson 240 



Fourth Lesson 241 

Fifth Lesson 242 

Sixth Lesson 243 

Lessons on Verbs 244 

Lessons on Nouns 248 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

PAGE 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 252 

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE 252 

Bones and Muscles 254 

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 256 

CHEMISTRY 259 

CHAPTER XIII. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 262 

PENMANSHIP— Lessons on the Blackboard— The First Series 
of Lessons — Second Series — Third Series — Fourth Series 

— Fifth Series — Sixth Series 262 

DRAWING — First Series of Lessons — Second Series of Les- 
sons — Third Series of Lessons 267 

MUSIC — Pitch of Sounds — Length of Sounds — Notation by 

Numerals 271 

CHAPTER XIV. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION {continued) 279 

HISTORY— Two Methods— Classification— Three Great Cycles 
— Mediterranean Civilization — Atlantic Civilization — Pa- 
cific Civilization — Instruction in History Important 279 

CHAPTER XV. 

FURNITURE AND APPARATUS 292 

Sizes of School Desks 293 

APPARATUS 293 

" useful in teaching Alphabet 294 

" " " Arithmetic 295 

" " " Geography 297 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 300 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PAGB 

HIGHER EDUCATION. 302 

The Relation of Public Schools to Higher Institutions... 302 



CHAPTER XVII. 

GOVERNMENT. , 311 

Self- Government necessary in Public Schools 311 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE 318 

A Change of Circumstances requires a Change of Books 
— Too many Books on one Subject — Pernicious Effects 
of the Agency System 318 




ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 



CHAPTER I. 

EDUCATION. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 




SYSTEM of education, to be of prac- 
tical utility, must be so devised as to 
secure the harmonious development 
of all the human faculties, physical and 
spiritual. The human mind and body are so 
closely wedded to each other that whatever 
affects the one for good or evil to a correspond- 
ing degree affects the other. It is not neces- 
sary to provide an elaborate system of physical 
training for people so active and stirring as are 
those who inhabit the United States, but it is 
essential that a system of intellectual and moral 
training shall be so constructed and applied as 
not to obstruct the natural growth and develop- 
ment of the physical powers. The spirit must 

2 13 



14 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

rule over the body, but that rule must not be 
oppressive. The body must be held in natural 
subjection to the spirit, but if by tyranny and 
oppression the spirit emaciates and enfeebles 
the body, the effect would be to invoke feeble- 
ness and insanity upon itself. The cases in 
America where harm comes to the body from a 
too close application to study are exceedingly 
rare. The tyranny of fashion in dress, the late 
hours and demoralizing influences of social 
amusements, the pampering of the appetite and 
the youthful dissipation consequent upon social 
usages in good society work irreparable mis- 
chief in the young constitution ; this is very 
generally charged as the result of too close ap- 
plication to study in school. The charge is 
false in every sense. The demand for the re- 
laxation of educational discipline, if granted, 
would enlarge the opportunities for this social 
demoralization, and increase the evil results of 
the pernicious practices to which the ill health 
of boys and girls is truly attributable. 

THE MIND. 

The faculties of the mind are comprised in 
three general divisions — the Intellect, the Send- 
bility and the Will; that is, the knowing facul- 
ties, the feeling faculties and the doing faculties. 
The logical order is — first, to know; second, 



EDUCATION. 15 

to feel ; and third, to act. Knowledge precedes 
emotion ; emotion precedes action. 

Nattiral Order of Development. — First in or- 
der, then, is the education of the Intellect. The 
Intellect is developed by the acquisition of know- 
ledge. Knowledge is first acquired, in youth, 
through the Senses. The first efforts in edu- 
cating, therefore, should be directed to systema- 
tize observation, and the first subjects of study 
are very naturally the facts in the physical 
sciences. The innumerable and marvelous ques- 
tionings in childhood have almost always refer- 
ence to things seen, felt and heard. He who 
attempts to teach a child to reason betrays a 
lamentable ignorance of the order of develop- 
ment of the mental powers. A child will ob- 
serve, and by processes peculiarly its own will 
connect facts, and by the operation of Judgment 
will connect effects with causes, but to endeavor 
to exercise its mind upon abstractions would 
be prejudicial to healthful and logical develop- 
ment. From the observation of things the mind 
gradually rises to the observation of certain 
qualities belonging to the things observed. 
Thus Perception is developed. The association 
of qualities with each other or with a given 
object gives rise to ideas ; these ideas find ex- 
pression in words ; that is, the object is first 
observed with close interest and attention ; 



1 6 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

secondly, particular features or properties of 
the object are observed, and these features or 
properties are united in the mind as belonging 
to one object. This unity by which the object 
and its properties are combined stands in the 
mind as a representative of the thing observed 
as a Perception, and may be recalled from the 
storehouse of Memory by the operation of 
Recollection, though the thing itself be absent. 
When a new object is presented, if it in any re- 
spect resembles in form or quality the subject 
of a previous observation, the old is instantly 
called up and placed in the mind by the side of 
the new, and this gives rise to association and 
analysis ; each is analyzed to see in what re- 
spects it is like and in what it is unlike the 
other. 

Language is first learned by observation, and 
in every case it is more the result of habit than 
of analysis. A child imitates the language of 
its mother; the most persistent efforts of the 
school-teacher will not be able to overthrow the 
good or bad results of the every-day practice of 
the household until the pupil shall have arrived 
at that age, and shall have attained that degree 
of culture, which will enable it to distinguish in 
social life between the correct and the incorrect 
use of language. 

Knowledge that is acquired through the Sen- 



EDUCATION. iy 

ses is retained in the Memory, and Recollection 
is the power by which that which lies in the 
mind is awakened. Imagination is the power 
by which the mind holds up before itself the 
images which are called up by recollection. 
Understanding is the faculty by which the rela- 
tions of things to each other are determined. 
Reason, which is higher than all of these, is the 
faculty through which the ultimate and universal 
principles are ascertained. Following this order, 
which is the order in which these faculties are 
developed, Memory must be exercised in con- 
junction with the Senses and Perception. It is 
the storehouse into which the Perceptive facul- 
ties carry all the facts obtained through the 
Senses. Calling up for inspection the things 
which are thus stored in the mind gives ex- 
ercise to the Memory; holding them up to 
view affords exercise to the Imagination. The 
Understanding takes up the pictures of the Im- 
agination, receives what Recollection has called 
up from the Memory, which has been stored by 
the operation of the Senses, and determines the 
relations of all the parts to each other as causes 
and effects. It classifies in accordance with per- 
ceived relations. It places facts together as the 
links in a chain. It discovers that one link 
hangs upon the other, and that the link which 
stood as cause for that below it becomes effect 

2* B 



1 8 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

for that above it; thus it can follow from the 
lowest link to the highest, but it can never rise 
to the ascertaining of the origin of the separate 
links, or to the comprehension of the power 
which sustains the whole chain, which seems to 
hang upon nothing. It is the province of Reason 
to take up the work where the operations of 
Judgment end, and to carry the mind from facts 
to principles, lifting it up to the comprehension 
of original causation which cannot stand in the 
relation of effect to any cause. 

THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE. 

It will thus be observed that there are two 
sources of knowledge — the Senses and the 
Reason. Man derives knowledge through the 
Senses ; this is called empirical knowledge — the 
knowledge of experience. This includes all 
that we know through the Senses — seeing, hear- 
ing, touching, tasting, smelling — and through 
emotional experiences. Knowledge of which 
reason is the source is called rational know- 
ledge ; ideas of space, of time, of distance, the 
truths evolved by mathematical calculations, 
ideas of the absolute and the infinite, are at- 
tained through processes of reasoning, and can- 
not be reached by experience. 



EDUCATION. 19 

METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE. 

There are two methods of dealing with the 
products of the Senses and of the Reason. Par- 
ticular phenomena may be taken up and the 
process be conducted so as to find the general 
laws, which unite these, into a harmonious sys- 
tem. This is called induction. 

Or, a general truth may be presented, and 
the process will then be to find the original ele- 
ments which enter into its composition ; this 
process is called deduction. All investigation, 
therefore, whether for the purpose of acquiring 
a knowledge of ascertained truths or for undis- 
covered truths, is either inductive or deductive. 

The inductive process is synthetic and the 
deductive is analytic. By synthesis the parts 
are constructed into a whole ; by analysis the 
whole is separated into its parts. The naturalist 
may observe many facts in some department 
of nature ; he may observe the laws which gov- 
ern these facts, and he may bind all of these 
into a system of science. This he does by the 
process of induction, aided by synthesis, or he 
may observe some general effect, some phenom- 
enon, which stands as a result ; he seeks to dis- 
cover its origin ; he divides and subdivides 
until he reaches simple truths. This is the pro- 
cess of deduction, carried on by analysis. 



20 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 



THE OPERATION OF THE FACULTIES. 

By a series of experiments, one suggesting 
another, the mind proceeds in its search for 
truth by means of observation, and these same 
processes, carried on in the higher operations 
of scientific investigation, had their beginning in 
smaller and more simple processes in the mind 
of the child. Associated facts are always at- 
tractive to children and readily engage their at- 
tention, and it is for this reason that study is 
most rapid where associated facts, systematically 
arranged, are presented. The mind thus rises 
through all the parts of a science, observing at 
every step the logical order of combination. 
When knowledge comes in this connected order, 
its acquisition gives strength to the Memory, 
because the truths that are learned are so stored 
away in the mind that the presentation of one 
induces the recollection of another, and thus in- 
numerable incidents in the range of observation 
call up long trains of thought. This brings in 
review before the mind, frequently, in moments 
of leisure and in the hour of play, the knowledge 
that was acquired through much toil and effort. 
Hence it is that knowledge gained through 
logical methods becomes food for all the facul- 
ties of the mind, affording them exercise and 
recreation, the free indulgence in which induces 



EDUCATION. 21 

culture. It is evident, therefore, that without 
the development of the intellectual faculties in 
their natural order and in harmonious propor- 
tion, the attainment of that higher and more 
complete culture involving the full growth of all 
the faculties of the mind, which gives power and 
efficiency, cannot be attained. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF METHODICAL DEVELOPMENT 
OF THE INTELLECT. 

The intellect must be developed methodically 
and the faculties must grow harmoniously. This 
development and this growth can be attained 
only by the proper exercise in their natural or- 
der of the knowing faculties of the mind. An- 
tecedent to all methodical education there must 
be a thirst for knowledge, a desire to know. 
There must be a mental appetite to be gratified 
before mental food can be administered with 
profit. Precisely as the physical system is cloyed 
and injured by administering food when it is not 
wanted — that is, when there is no appetite de- 
manding it — so all efforts at cramming the mind 
with mental pabulum will result in injury. The 
mind is in no sense a passive receptacle, a mere 
storehouse, in which may be lodged property 
and rubbish as the whim or the opportunity of 
the doorkeeper may permit, neither is it a blank 
tablet upon which any reckless scribbler may 



22 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

erasibly write. It is in itself an activity, a power, 
a being with susceptibilities ; what it receives it 
has the power to retain or to reject, to store 
away for use or to cast forth as worthless. Its 
capacities are increased by the exercise arising 
from active use, or they are contracted by hab- 
its of idleness. A desire to know is the appe- 
tite for mental food, and as the body puts forth 
efforts to obtain aliment for its own life, so the 
mind, impelled by the sense of hunger and thirst 
for knowledge, goes out in search of it, and 
everywhere nature displays rich fields laden with 
abundant harvests, inviting all the activities of 
the mind to go forth, reap, garner and enjoy. 

A system of education should have for its 
object the guidance of the faculties of the mind 
in their efforts to reap in the harvest-fields of 
nature, so that they may first gather that which 
is first required, that they may store away that 
which is of most use, to the end that the mind 
may be strengthened by labor, that the act of 
receiving may increase the capacity to receive, 
and that what requires greater strength and 
longer continued efforts to overcome and pos- 
sess, may be left to be gathered at that period 
of life, when the requisite strength and power 
of endurance shall have been gained, through a 
judicious system of exercise. 
v- A child employs its sense of hearing before its 



EDUCATION. 23 

sense of seeing, and both of these senses are 
used before it acquires the art of articulate 
speech; it uses its hands and arms in playing 
with its toys before it can use its feet and legs 
to walk for them. It would be extreme folly to 
insist that an infant shall not play with its rattle 
until it is able to walk to the table and get it, 
or that it should not be allowed the light of day, 
or to be guided by the sense of hearing, until 
the organs of speech are developed. It is 
equally illogical to attempt to cultivate the 
Reason and Understanding at that period when 
only the Senses are active, or to persist in 
efforts to store the Memory with abstractions, 
which cannot be understood, and to refuse to 
give exercise to the Senses in acquiring know- 
ledge by observation until it can be acquired 
equally well through the operation of Reason. 
The system of education herewith presented is 
constructed upon this theory. It is a natural 
system because it provides for the development 
of the faculties in their natural order. 

CONDITIONS FOR THE PROCESS OF EDUCATING. 

Teaching presupposes three conditions : first, 
a degree of knowledge and capacity on the part 
of the pupil ; Second, a degree of knowledge and 
skill on the part of the teacher ; and third, know- 
ledge to be acquired. When a child enters 



24 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

school — and that is the period at which the sys- 
tem of education which is now under contem- 
plation is designed to take effect — he possesses a 
certain amount of knowledge which has usually 
been acquired in an irregular way and is rarely 
systematically arranged as parts of theories or 
sciences, yet this knowledge is of great use to 
the pupil, and must be taken account of in 
efforts to lead the mind into regular habits of 
educating itself. 

NATURAL PROCESS TO BE ENCOURAGED. 

The knowledge possessed by the pupil has 
been acquired by observation ; the first effort 
of the teacher, therefore, should be to encourage 
and systematize observation. This will bring 
order to the perceptions, will utilize the stores 
of the Memory and will exercise that faculty. 
It will bring order and strength to Recollection ; 
it will utilize Imagination and will exercise Judg- 
ment. The nature of the mind and its natural 
order of development make it necessary that, 
in a system of education, the study of the mate- 
rial sciences should come first. It is entirely 
natural that a child should recognize differences 
between a rose and a geranium, between quartz 
and mica, before it can distinguish between A 
and V or and Q. It is not too much to say, 
therefore, that for the young pupils, mere chil- 



EDUCATION. 25 

dren, who are now forced to worry and wonder 
over what are to them meaningless characters, 
or who are required to sit in idleness under 
what seems to them a bitter and unnecessary- 
restraint, a much more profitable use would be 
made of school-hours if they were taught to ex- 
ercise their powers of observation and memory 
on the natural objects that surround them. 
Few farmers are able to name a tenth of the 
varieties of grasses, herbs and shrubs found in 
their fields, and an equal degree of ignorance 
prevails as to the names and qualities of rocks 
and soils. Under proper methods of instruction 
such knowledge would be acquired by pupils 
who enter school at the age of six, before the 
end of the second year of public-school educa- 
tion. In public schools established for the edu- 
cation of the people is a proper place to begin 
such a needed reform. Here is a practical work 
to undertake, here is popular ignorance to be 
dispelled, here are agreeable, profitable and easy 
lessons to be learned. 

PUBLIC-SCHOOL EDUCATION. 

Public schools are established for the instruc- 
tion of the millions. The education provided in 
these schools should be practical, the methods 
should be agreeable and logical, and the results, 
popular intelligence. The reverse of this is 
3 



26 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

mainly true ; the education is almost universally 
impractical, the methods are disagreeable and 
illogical, and the result, purchased at the price 
paid for intelligence, is popular ignorance. Ten 
or fifteen years of school-life are given over, to 
the study of illogical books, the solution of intri- 
cate problems found in school arithmetics, to the 
mastering of impractical methods and bungling 
devices, to the memorizing of useless and 
meaningless rules in grammar, correcting false 
syntax and parsing, to learning the names of 
places noted for the number of shoes made there 
or the quantity of cheese produced annually. 
This, coupled with the ability to read indiffer- 
ently and write illegibly, in many places is all 
that is acquired by the majority of pupils in the 
public schools. This comparative uselessness 
of public-school education arises, not from want 
of intelligence on the part of the teacher, the 
convenience of appliances, skill in teaching or 
diligence in prosecuting studies, but in the most 
senseless and bungling methods of classification 
that are employed in the construction of the cur- 
riculum of studies. The facts of geology are 
more simple, more instructive and more useful 
than the facts of geography. The facts of anat- 
omy, physiology and hygiene are more easily 
grasped than the facts of grammar and arithmetic, 
and with the exception of the fundamental rules, 



EDUCATION. 27 

arithmetic should take its place behind geogra- 
phy, history and botany. The utterly extrava- 
gant value attached to mathematics as a means 
of disciplining the mind has led to incalculable 
mischief in times past, and has given to the world 
a generation of men absolutely ignorant of the 
plainest and most useful facts of science. This 
false estimate of the utility of one branch of 
learning over every other is felt from the lowest 
primary schools through all grades up to the uni- 
versities. In the higher institutions mathemat- 
ics is harnessed with the classics, making a double 
team which annually delivers for graduation 
hundreds of young men whose hearts are full 
of vanity and whose heads are full of ignorance. 
These are the "educated men" who give to soci- 
ety the numerous deplorable failures that long 
since brought " education " into disrepute. These 
men, graduating from the best colleges, ignorant 
of political history and of geography, ignorant 
of natural history, ignorant of/ every modern 
language, unfortunately ignorant of all useful 
learning except what is useful only for discipline, 
and, worse than all, "deplorably ignorant of their 
own ignorance," — these " educated men," until 
within a very few years past, failing in every other 
pursuit in life, were teachers in public schools. 
They compressed the schools into their own nar- 
rowness, engrafted upon them their own barren 



28 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

methods, and made them failures like unto them- 
selves — failures in this, that they consumed 
the school-years of the youth in forcing upon 
them instruction that is disagreeable and use- 
less, and in withholding from them knowledge 
that would have been attractive, useful and en- 
nobling. 

" Mental arithmetic" and "higher arithmetic" 
should be excluded from the public schools. 
They are not sciences in any sense, but mere 
inventions brought forth by over-zealous mathe- 
maticians. Grammar might with some degree of 
profit, perhaps, be introduced into the schools 
during the last years of the course, but it is ex- 
ceedingly doubtful whether any one in youth ever 
acquired, through grammar books, the ability 
to " speak and write the English language with 
propriety." Grammar in its true sense is a sci- 
ence of Language, but a science more intricate 
in its processes, more complex in its theories and 
more difficult to comprehend, than either of the 
physical sciences of which the facts lie at our 
feet on every side, which stretch out above and 
beneath us. Nevertheless, grammar is forced 
upon the pupil at a most tender age in most 
absurd methods, and it is held there year after 
year to the total exclusion of the more simple, 
useful and agreeable sciences, such as botany, 



EDUCATION. 29 

geology, geography, chemistry, natural philoso- 
phy and astronomy. 

The complicated inventions of men are studied 
first, while the simple and sublime creations of 
God are rarely studied at all in the' public 
schools. The children are forced to feed on 
husks with swine, whilst the savory meats in the 
Father's house that strengthen and inspire are 
withheld. Stones and scorpions are given to 
the children who cry for bread and fish. In the 
system of education and the methods of teach- 
ing set forth in this work the old system, so bar- 
ren of good results, so fruitful in failures, is re- 
jected, and an artificial process is supplanted 
by a natural and logical order. Those subjects 
of study which are most simple, interesting and 
useful are introduced first. The more difficult 
and unnecessary — as grammar and mathematics 
•^-may follow as time and circumstances may 
permit them to be taken up. In the plan for 
organizing and conducting schools as here 
presented, it is the purpose of the author to 
lead teachers, school-directors and the parents 
of children educated in public schools into more 
pleasant and practical methods of labor. This 
will require no additional outlay of capital, will 
not involve an expenditure of more time, but 
will rather impart a degree of pleasure and 
profit to school-days hitherto not experienced 
3* 



30 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

by those who have preceded us as pupils and 
teachers. 



PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR TEACHERS. 

Against a continuation of a pernicious system 
of teaching the people at length protested. They 
demanded that normal schools should be estab- 
lished for the education of men and women in the 
"Art of Teaching." These institutions, now re- 
cognized in all parts of the country, are annually 
sending forth persons well qualified to teach, 
and as the number of these professional teachers 
increases, the system of teaching will become 
more logical, the education will be more effect- 
ual both in the quality of knowledge furnished 
and in the character of the men- and women 
who shall be reared under its influence. Orig- 
inally preceding, but now supplementing, the 
work of the normal schools, are " Teachers' 
Institutes " in counties and districts. < These are 
gatherings of the teachers of a county or neigh- 
borhood at some convenient place for general 
instruction. In these Institutes methods of in- 
struction are examined and criticised ; there is 
an interchange of views on the subject of school 
government, and in this way teachers learn from 
each other what may be of practical use to them 
in their labors. 

In States where normal schools have not yet 



EDUCATION. 31 

been established, teachers should combine for 
the purpose of holding Institutes during the 
vacation period. Expert teachers from other 
States may be employed, in addition to the best 
home talent, to instruct the teachers in the art 
of teaching. In these convocations the teachers 
are organized into classes in the several branches 
taught in the schools represented in the Institutes, 
and thus in class drills they learn by actual ex- 
perience not only new truths, but also how to 
impart the knowledge of them to others. 

The business of school teaching will be es- 
tablished as one of the learned professions only 
by enforcing a system of professional teaching, 
and with those educated in the art of teaching 
rests the responsibility of dignifying their voca- 
tion by the adoption of methods and processes, 
worthy of the high claims of professional dignity. 




l^m^m^m^ma 


1 \ +*mfKrl-rfki />). 


§£i^§p>^sS| 


BKa&F3Lv 








CHAPTER II. 

DISCIPLINE. 

GOVERNING FORCES. 

HE passions and appetites of the ani- 
mal stand lowest among all the forces 
in the human organism. These go 
out in innumerable cravings, in long- 
ings for gratification. Judgment and Reason 
take cognizance of these cravings of the flesh, 
contemplating them with reference to the re- 
sults if they are unrestrained. Prudential con- 
siderations here have weight ; the effect upon 
the body, the effect upon the social standing, 
the probability of concealment and other sordid 
considerations may determine the Judgment and 
Reason in arriving at a conclusion. This con- 
clusion must, however, be carried up to the 
judgment-seat of Conscience. Here the sole 
question to be determined is one of absolute 
right. No other considerations can enter into 
the deliberations of this tribunal. Here the 

'62 



DISCIPLINE. 33 

standard of absolute right is set up, and what- 
ever is brought into this court is laid upon it, 
and if it is in harmony in every part and partic- 
ular with this standard, it is approved, but not 
otherwise. After Conscience shall have pro- 
nounced the thing brought before it to be right 
or wrong, it is passed up to the Will-power, 
which is the human executive, for enforcement. 
Where the Will-power is weak, there is anarchy 
among the members, there is hesitation, there 
is indecision, there is feebleness, there is uncer- 
tainty of thought, doubtfulness in conclusion and 
inefficiency in action. If the Will-power is strong, 
the judgments of Conscience will be promptly 
and rigidly enforced. Harmony among all the 
departments or faculties of the mind will secure 
harmony of action. There will be wisdom to 
devise, righteousness to discriminate and power 
to enforce, and thus the animal passions will be 
kept in due subjection. The man whose mind 
is thus disciplined, being able to rule his own 
spirit, is "greater than he that taketh a city." 
A system of education must be so framed as to 
secure to the pupils, studying under its provis- 
ions, such harmonious and logical development 
as will afford data for the guidance of Judgment 
and Reason in the contemplation of the every- 
day life problems, that will be called up for legis- 
lative action ; it must give such clearness and 

c 



34 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

certainty of light to the human Conscience, as 
will enable it to discern the right from the 
wrong ; it must give such power to the Will, as 
will enable it to execute with precision and 
promptness the judgments of Conscience. 
There must be discipline for the body and dis- 
cipline for the mind. There must be intel- 
lectual culture and there must be moral cul- 
ture, and all of these should be so directed and 
applied as to lead the pupil up to the higher, 
to the brighter and to the purer atmosphere 
of religious culture. In this necessity is found 
the occasion for a more extended and minute 
contemplation of the works of Nature, than 
has hitherto been thought expedient. The 
study of mathematics will give precision and 
definiteness to thought, the study of language 
and literature will give that social culture and 
suavity of manner that passes in the world for 
the refinement of education, but the study of 
the material sciences and the contemplation of 
the laws by which all things are governed leads 
directly from Nature up to Nature's God. The 
comprehension of the attributes of the Great 
Original is the end of all knowledge, and the 
most direct road thither is from the facts of cre- 
ation, displayed to our senses, upward through 
the laws that bind them together. These are 
the works of the great Creator, and from the 



DISCIPLINE. 35 

contemplation of his works it is easy and natu- 
ral to rise to the contemplation of Him who made 
and ruleth over all. 

What is here written is for the guidance of 
those, who are immediately concerned in com- 
mon-school education. The idea is not to dis- 
card mathematics, language and literature as 
educational forces, but to insist that their place 
is logically and naturally after instead of before 
the material sciences. The children in the pub- 
lic schools must not be compelled to waste their 
school-days in the study of mathematics, gram- 
mar and literature, to the exclusion of the more 
agreeable and more profitable studies in the 
field of Nature. In the chapter on higher edu- 
cation the scope and uses of mathematics and 
the classics as means of education will be aeain 
considered. The object here is to show, that 
for purposes of discipline to the young mind, 
the facts of the material sciences are in every 
sense superior to those of mathematics and 
language. 

THE USES OF DISCIPLINE. 

The value of discipline consists chiefly in this, 
that it creates a desire for the acquisition of 
knowledge and directs the efforts by logical 
methods, which, from the beginning, contem- 
plate an attainable end. To those, therefore, 



36 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

who labor among the material elements of na- 
ture, such as the soil, the plants, the rocks, the 
waters, the winds and the animals, that learn- 
ing which will best enable them to observe the 
characteristics of the things among which they 
toil will be to them most valuable. It will give 
them both skill to observe and wisdom to apply. 
Either for the uses of art or for the advance- 
ment of science, such an education is much more 
reasonable than that which gives the power to 
solve intricate problems in mathematics, or to 
analyze and parse obscurely-constructed pas- 
sages in English literature. 

THEORY WITHOUT PRACTICE. 

Many fierce battles of controversy have been 
fought. Conservatives, on the one side, have 
bitterly contended for what is old and well tried. 
Enthusiastic reformers, on the other side, have 
insisted upon a total overthrow of the college 
curriculum, the rejection of ancient languages 
and literature from the new catalogue of studies 
and the substitution of the technical sciences 
in their stead. Though singular, it is not inex- 
plicable, that both of these contending forces are 
in error. The conservatives, appealing to the 
universal experience of educators, seem to for- 
get " that a teacher's experience must be mea- 
sured, not by the length of time that he has 



DISCIPLINE. 37 

been engaged in his work, but rather by the 
amount of analytical ability and intellectual labor 
that he has applied to the materials which that 
experience has furnished him." Opportunities 
for observation and experiment may be great, 
but the faculty of evolving truth and of forming 
logical conclusions may be small. Most of the 
successful instructors in the higher institutions 
of learning have derived their theories of edu- 
cation by intuition from the college atmosphere, 
and these remain undigested and unchanged, 
their personal experience having wrought no 
modification in what was dogmatically laid upon 
them by their predecessors. It frequently hap- 
pens, therefore, that the continuance of the old 
curriculum is insisted upon simply because 
neither observation nor experience has sug- 
gested to the minds of those persistent con- 
servatives the necessity for any departure from 
it. On the other hand, those who insist upon 
so radical a change as the exclusion of the 
classics from the college course are so hedged 
in with the idea of utility, that they reject every- 
thing that is not in accordance with their own 
notion of immediate practical use. Thus it hap- 
pens that " the history of education is both the 
battle-field and burying-ground of impracticable 
theories." * 

* Sidgwick. 



38 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL SYSTEMS. 

All methods of education may be reduced to 
two general systems, the natural and the arti- 
ficial. By natural education is meant that which 
teaches pupils those things in which they are 
likely to be interested in after-life. It is not 
proposed that education should always be tech- 
nical, but in that preliminary training which pre- 
cedes professional preparation respect should 
be had to the probable condition of the pupil 
through life, and his education should be shaped 
with reference to that condition, and yet with a 
view to giving as liberal a culture as is compat- 
ible with the extent of the school period he is 
likely to enjoy. 

An artificial education is one in which pupils 
are taught one thing that they may ultimately 
know another. " It teaches a boy the rudiments 
of some learning or accomplishments that a 
man will be content to forget," but by this pro- 
cess of learning in order to forget he is prepared 
to grapple with the practical problems of life 
with some certainty of mastering them. It is 
claimed by the advocates of the artificial system, 
that it is the only safe course to ensure that dis- 
cipline and culture, which everywhere distin- 
guishes the educated gentleman from the mere 
superficial pretender. They assume that this 



DISCIPLINE. 39 

training and discipline is unattainable through 
any method whereby useful knowledge is directly 
acquired. Herein consists their fundamental 
error. It is now admitted by many of the 
ablest schoolmen and the wisest philosophers, 
that the teaching of useful knowledge affords 
as valuable a training to the mind as it is possi- 
ble to attain by any system of instruction. 

Study for the purposes of discipline only is 
study from pure love for learning. This indeed 
is a noble impulse that should be encouraged 
wherever it is found, but a system of education, 
that puts forward such learning as that best 
adapted to the millions of people, who compose 
the population of any country, is radically defect- 
ive. In a curriculum for general education, 
framed for the use of the people, those branches 
of learning that are studied from pure curiosity 
or from the love of research are precisely those 
that should be excluded. They may with pro- 
priety find a place in those higher institutions 
of learning, wherein are found young men and 
women with means and leisure at their com- 
mand to pursue literary and scientific investiga- 
tion for the good of mankind, or as a source of 
gratification to themselves. Literary and private 
institutions may very properly adopt the arti- 
ficial method of education, but those who con- 
struct a system of public schools for the training 



40 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of the youth of all classes, and especially of the 
active productive laboring classes, must hold to 
the natural system. 

THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC-SCHOOL EDUCATION. 

It will not be denied by men who carefully 
survey the field, that xommon-school education 
is intended more as a universal system, contrived 
to supply, at a small cost, useful information to 
the masses. It is not intended to provide for 
that liberal culture which only a few are ambi- 
tious to attain and still fewer succeed in acquir- 
ing. The chief aim, therefore, should be the 
development of the faculties of external obser- 
vation. It is not enough that pupils learn 
merely to see things as they are. The memory 
must be taught to record accurately, and the 
imagination to represent faithfully, the facts ob- 
served. The materials on which the intellect 
ordinarily acts, even when thinking apart from 
observing, are ideas of the external world. 
There is food in the elements of the material 
sciences both for the imaginative and conceptive 
faculties, and the training which is furnished in 
the act of classifying the things observed, is pre- 
cisely the education that will be useful in the 
business of life. The student is required not 
merely to apply the classification made to order, 
but he is frequently required to construct a 



DISCIPLINE. 41 

classification for immediate use. Neither the 
study of mathematics nor of literature cultivates 
habits of reasoning from effects to causes and 
from causes to effects. 

Life is a series of unfinished systems. At 
every period something is present and some- 
thing is absent. This is precisely the case in 
physics. The study of them, therefore, is the 
most natural and efficacious way of teaching 
how to correctly infer and combine absent phe- 
nomena with present phenomena in the percep- 
tions. In reference to the study of physical 
science, Cuvier very justly observes, " Every 
transaction which supposes a classification of 
facts, every research which requires a distribu- 
tion of matter, is performed after the same man- 
ner, and he who has cultivated this science 
merely for amusement is surprised at the facili- 
ties it affords for disentangling all kinds of 
affairs." A system of education should afford 
proper discipline to the mind and at the same 
time stimulate it to active exercise, and in this 
respect the study of the sciences has the ad- 
vantage over all other branches of learning for 
young pupils. The books which they open to 
the student will never be shut up and put away. 
The external world, directly and indirectly, daily 
forces itself upon the observation, and it will be 

of continual advantage to be able to comprehend 

4* 



42 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

and classify the observations thus passing before 
us. The superiority of the material sciences as 
subjects for school studies is also felt in this : 
they teach the pupil what in all periods of life 
he is most glad to know. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 

An eminent scholar of England who very 
forcibly reviews the relative value of studies 
says: " Physical science is now so bound up 
with all the interests of mankind, from the low- 
est and most material to the loftiest and most 
profound, it is so engrossing in its Infinite de- 
tail, so exciting in its progress and promise, so 
fascinating in the varied beauty of its revela- 
tions, — that it draws to itself an ever-increasing 
amount of intellectual energy, so that the intel- 
lectual man who has been trained without it 
must feel at every turn his inability to compre- 
hend thoroughly the present phase of the prog- 
ress of humanity, and his limited sympathy with 
the thoughts and feelings, labors and aspirations, 
of his fellow-men. And if there be any who be- 
lieve that the summit of a liberal education, the 
crown of the highest culture, is philosophy — 
meaning by philosophy the sustained effort, if it 
be no more than an effort, to frame a complete 
and reasoned synthesis of the facts of the uni- 
verse — on them it may be especially urged how 



DISCIPLINE. 43 

poorly equipped a man comes to such a study, 
however competent he may be to interpret the 
thoughts of ancient thinkers, if he has not quali- 
fied himself to examine, comprehensively and 
closely, the wonderful scale of methods by which 
the human mind has achieved its various degrees 
of conquest over the world of Sense." 

Noah Porter, President of Yale College, says : 
" Botany and mineralogy, with the elements of 
geology, especially botany, are branches which 
can be acquired in early life, which is the observ- 
ing period, provided an exciting interest can be 
aroused in their objects. We cannot estimate 
too highly the habits which are induced by these 
studies, or the tastes which they awaken and 
refine. The nice eye for analysis, the attentive 
eye for research, the enterprise and self-reliance 
required for open-air excursions, the elevating 
influences that come from a contact with the pur- 
ity and beauty of nature, and the habits of ready 
tact and rapid induction which such studies and 
researches involve, — are all invaluable features 
of the character, and leave priceless treasures for 
life. No one can appreciate more highly than 
we the tastes and aptitudes of the enthusiastic 
naturalist, whether seen in their blossom in the 
youthful votary or in their ripeness in the ma- 
tured philosopher. We would therefore insist 
that those sciences should be studied thoroughly 



44 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

in the preparatory education, so far as they are 
mainly sciences of observation and of fact." 

Discoursing upon the practical uses of study, 
the same high authority says, " The pure mathe- 
matics, both elementary and advanced, are the 
least directly practical of any sciences, and it is 
only because of their necessity as the founda- 
tion of the applied sciences and arts that they 
are so readily admitted into the circle of practi- 
cal and useful knowledge." 

For purposes of discipline, therefore, within 
the sphere of public-school education, the con- 
clusion that the study of the material sciences 
stands pre-eminent will not be seriously con- 
troverted. 




CHAPTER III. 

SCHOOL AUTHORITIES^ 

N each of the States there is a school 
department possessing some form of 
organization, charged with the per- 
formance of specific duties and limited 
the exercise of definite powers. This de- 
partment usually is charged with a general 
supervision over the educational affairs of the 
State. It collects statistics, publishes reports, 
and in a general way is a means of communica- 
tion between the Legislature and the people. 



to 



LOCAL AUTHORITIES. 

Every State is subdivided into school dis- 
tricts of greater or less dimensions ; within 
these districts are local authorities, which may 
be designated by the general name of " School 
Boards." To these local authorities is intrusted 
by the people the business of establishing, sup- 
porting and conducting schools. This involves 
the raising of revenues, the erecting of 

45 



46 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

school- buildings, the fixing of the school-term, 
its duration and time for opening and closing, 
the construction of a course of study, the fixing 
the amount of salary to be paid, the employ- 
ment of teachers, the care of school property, 
the inspection of the schools, and generally the 
doing of whatever is necessary for the estab- 
lishing and maintaining of schools for the proper 
education of the children within their jurisdic- 
tion. These local officers are usually elected 
by the people, and are therefore immediately 
accountable to them for the faithful discharge 
of their duties. In most States the manner in 
which money shall be raised for the support of 
schools, as well as the minimum length of the 
school term, is fixed by law. 

DUTIES OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES. 

The duties of the local authorities will be 
treated under the following general subdivisions 
— first, as applicable to rural districts : 

i st. Schoolhouses — buildings, furniture and 
grounds. 

2d. School-term. 

3d. Course of study. 

4th. The adoption of books. 

5th. Salary of teachers. 

6th. Employment of teachers. 

7th. Supervision. 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 4/ 

SCHOOLHOUSES. 

The first duty of the local authorities in every 
district is to see that every neighborhood is pro- 
vided with a convenient schoolhouse. It too 
frequently happens that a site for a schoolhouse 
is chosen solely with reference to its cheapness. 
In rural districts a building is erected by the 
roadside in a low, wet, unshaded spot, fre- 
quently upon a piece of ground that is utterly 
useless for any other purpose, and ought also 
to be considered wholly unfit for the purpose to 
which it is applied. In the first place, the site 
should be central in the neighborhood which it 
is intended to accommodate, it should be easily 
accessible, and it should be on elevated and 
well-drained grounds. After an eligible site 
has been selected, sufficient ground should be 
purchased to admit of a convenient playground 
extending on every side of the building. If 
this can be found in a grove of old trees, it will 
be the more desirable. 

The building should be erected upon an im- 
proved plan of school architecture, and with sole 
reference to the uses to which it is to be put. 
A house for the accommodation of a mixed 
school in a rural district should be provided 
with a spacious vestibule and separate dressing- 
rooms for the girls and boys, with closets in 



48 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

which to store away the dinner-baskets, and 
hooks upon which to hang the outer garments 
worn by the children. The building should be 
sufficiently elevated from the ground to ensure 
dryness, and should be provided with the most 
approved contrivances for ventilating ; the heat- 
ing apparatus should be constructed with refer- 
ence to efficiency both in warming and ventilat- 
ing the study-rooms. 

FURNITURE. 

The furniture of the schoolhouse should be 
of the most approved and convenient pattern. 
The desks should be so arranged as to enable 
all pupils to pass to and from their seats with- 
out disturbing each other and without creating 
confusion in any part of the room. 

Every school should be provided with a library 
of reference-books. These should be the prop- 
erty of the district, and be accessible to all the 
pupils. The most comprehensive English dic- 
tionary, a geographical gazetteer, a biographical 
dictionary, a popular encyclopaedia, sets of his- 
torical and physiological charts and outline maps 
should be considered indispensable articles in 
the furnishing of every school-house. 

The teacher's desk should be so constructed 
as to be well adapted to the uses for which it is 
intended. A plain business office desk, with 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 49 

drawers, shelves, closets and book-rack, is per- 
haps the most convenient form. School-officers 
should not set their teachers down to tables 
without drawer, shelf or lock, and expect them 
to keep accurate records of the transactions in 
school. All the movable property in and about 
the schoolroom should be intrusted to the 
care of the treasurer of the school-board, who 
should be held responsible for its safe-keeping. 

THE GROUNDS. 

The grounds about a schoolhouse should be 
thoroughly drained, so as to ensure dryness in 
all seasons. They should be leveled and sod- 
ded, and, if not already supplied, should be 
planted with trees for shade and with hardy 
shrubs for ornament. A house for fuel and 
separate closets for the accommodation of the 
pupils of both sexes should be provided, and 
the teacher should be instructed to see that 
these are always kept clean. Upon the grounds 
of every schoolhouse there should be a supply 
of water. This will add to the cleanliness and 
to the health of all who may attend the school. 
And, finally, a neat fence should enclose the 
whole, and this by annual repair and frequent 
painting should be maintained in good condition. 
A shabby schoolhouse is a disgrace to any 
neighborhood. 



50 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL, 

CITY SCHOOLHOUSES. 

The directions given above with reference 
to schoolhouses, school-furniture and school- 
grounds are intended for rural districts. In 
cities and large towns, where schools are graded, 
there is opportunity for the erection of school- 
buildines that for convenience and ornament 
would not be excelled by the architectural 
achievements in any other department of public 
or private enterprise. Near the centre of the 
school-district in cities a lot of suitable size 
should be obtained, and a master-architect 
should be employed to design a building after 
the best models of school-architecture. Sole 
reference should be had to the number of classes 
that are to be taught in the school, the number 
of teachers that are to be employed and the ex- 
tent of the course of studies that is to be pur- 
sued. A community can rarely find a place 
where the expenditure of money for public uses 
can be more profitably made than in providing 
first-class school-buildings. The very first requi- 
site is an abundance of space ; the next, conve- 
nience of arrangement, and, perhaps more im- 
portant than all, the certainty of strength in 
every part of the building, with ample facilities 
of ingress and egress to every department. In 
some of the large cities the school authorities, 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 5 1 

for some inexplicable reason, have erected their 
school-buildings on narrow streets or on filthy 
alleys. There can be no stronger evidence of 
the lack of wisdom on the part of these authori- 
ties than the selection of such improper places 
as sites for schoolhouses. In other cities lots 
facing open squares and the widest and most 
airy streets are selected for school purposes, 
and this is evidence of a proper appreciation on 
the part of the local authorities of what is best 
for the community. A city high school should 
be supplied with all of the most approved appa- 
ratus that can be of use to illustrate and enforce 
the facts and principles of the branches taught 
in the school. The furniture should be of the 
most approved kind, and everything within and 
about the school-building, the furniture and 
the apartments should be surrounded with an air 
of neatness and order that will at once attract 
attention and engender agreeable emotions. 

SCHOOL-TERM. 

The length of the school-term, wherever it is 
fixed by law, is usually adapted to the average 
ability of the several districts in the State to in- 
cur the expenses of supporting schools. The 
right to extend the term beyond the minimum 
fixed by law is usually left to the local school 
authorities. Schools should be kept open every- 



52 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

where during at least six months in the year, 
and wherever it is practicable the term should 
be extended to nine months. In rural districts, 
during the season of inclement weather, it is un- 
safe for the younger pupils to go any distance 
to school, and during the busy season of the 
summer months the larger boys cannot con- 
veniently be spared from the labors of the farm 
or the workshop. Where the school is opened 
at the beginning of the month of September and 
closed in March or April, the younger children 
will be the first to present themselves for in- 
struction. During the winter months their 
places will be occupied by their older brothers 
and sisters. This will especially be the case in 
rural districts in northern latitudes. Though 
the disarrangement of classes that will arise may 
not be agreeable to the teacher, it is less objec- 
tionable than to -have two short terms, one in 
the winter and one in the summer. 

Inasmuch as the common-school education is 
the only education obtained by a very large 
proportion of all the children in the United 
States, it is of the utmost importance that the 
school authorities provide for the longest annual 
term that the financial condition of the district 
will admit of. As the people of a State become 
more prosperous and wealthy, the Legislature 
should increase the minimum length of the 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 53 

school-term, so as to encourage the inhabitants 
of all parts of the State in educational progress. 

COURSE OF STUDY. 

The course of studies pursued in each school 
should not be left to the whim of the pupils or 
to the option of the teacher. Everywhere 
the school authorities should determine what 
branches of learning - shall be taught in the 

o o 

schools within their jurisdiction. The men, who 
are chosen by the people to conduct educational 
affairs in the district, are usually the most com- 
petent judges of what sort of knowledge will be 
of most use to the children that will attend the 
schools. Many branches are common, and 
should be taught everywhere. Others are more 
technical, and are peculiarly adapted to the uses 
of people engaged in special pursuits. For pur- 
poses of discipline, the general principles of 
mineralogy and mining engineering, the prin- 
ciples of mechanics and manufacturing engineer- 
ing, are equal, whereas, for practical utility, the 
former would be eminently proper in a mining 
region, and the latter in a manufacturing com- 
munity. So with regard to the principles of 
navigation and agriculture. The former would 
be proper in schools for the education of the 
children of a seaboard community, and the latter 
for the agricultural districts throughout the land. 

5* 



54 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

Text-books on all of these and kindred subjects 
have been prepared, and the school authorities 
should make provision for instruction in those 
special branches that are adapted to the wants 
of the community. 

As common-school education is necessarily 
limited in its extent, it is important that the 
time of the pupil and the effort of the teacher 
be not expended in endeavoring to exhaust two 
or three branches of learning; the course of 
study should be so arranged as to afford practi- 
cal instruction in the primary elements of as 
many branches of learning as can be success- 
fully taught in the time and with the appliances 
common to our public schools. Thus, instead 
of attempting to make expert mathematicians 
of all the boys and girls, who attend public 
schools, by cramming them with " mental arith- 
metic," " common-school arithmetic," " higher 
arithmetic" and " university arithmetic," it would 
be vastly more useful, whether considered with 
reference to discipline or the acquisition of 
knowledge or for purposes of culture, to lay 
aside the subject of mathematics at the end of 
the common-school arithmetic, and to give the 
additional time, which is now generally wasted 
on the so-called higher books, to the study of 
botany, physiology, natural philosophy and other 
sciences. So also with reference to grammar. 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 55 

Instead of attempting to make critical gramma- 
rians, magazine writers or poets of the boys and 
girls, it would serve a much better purpose to 
give the whole time, that is now usually misap- 
plied in the study of grammar, to the study of 
history, chemistry and geology. 

Be it understood all teaching must be thor- 
ough, but thoroughness and quantity are in no 
sense synonymous terms. A thorough know- 
ledge of the fundamental rules of arithmetic is 
acquired at a very early period of school-life. 
It is the bungling, useless, impractical devices 
constituting the bulk of the matter found in the 
mental and higher arithmetics that consume 
the time of the pupil. More knowledge, more 
discipline and higher culture are found in the 
pursuit of other studies, and therefore the im- 
portance of taking these up. A little knowledge 
is not a dangerous thing. The smallest modi- 
cum of knowledge is useful to the possessor of 
it. It is the superficial effort at learning a great 
deal, but which leaves in the mind a definite 
knowledge of nothing, that is popularly called a 
11 little learning," and this it is that is dangerous. 

A thorough mastering of any branch of learn- 
ing requires years of toil and maturity of mind. 
Neither of these comports with the scope of the 
public schools. The years of the pupil and the 
nature of the situation admit only of the teach- 



56 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ing of the elements. It will be far more con- 
ducive to popular education to introduce more 
branches, the elements of which may be com- 
prehended by young pupils, than to attempt to 
pursue to a greater extent only a few of the sub- 
jects now most popular with teachers. The 
boards of education in city and country should, 
therefore, so arrange the course of study for the 
schools under their supervision, as to increase 
the number of subjects by shortening the time 
devoted to each. 

ADOPTION OF BOOKS. 

The local school authorities should adopt a 
series of books to be used in the schools of 
their district. In order to do this intelligently 
certain preliminary questions must be settled: 
ist. It must be determined what branches of 
learning shall be taught in the several schools ; 
2d. To what extent these shall be taught ; and 
3d. The number of reference-books to be sup- 
plied to each school. Reading, writing, arith- 
metic, geography, grammar, composition and 
declamation are taught in all, or nearly all, of 
the schools in city and country. To these 
should be added history, physiology, botany, 
natural philosophy, chemistry and geology. As 
elsewhere stated, it will be necessary to restrict 
the teaching of arithmetic, geography and gram- 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 57 

mar within reasonable common-school limits, in 
order to make room for the teaching of the material 
sciences. If this restraint is not imposed by the 
local school authorities, the pupils of the schools 
in the district will be defrauded of much of the 
most agreeable and useful knowledge naturally 
within the scope of public-school education. To 
enforce such limitations the school-boards should 
adopt but one book on arithmetic. This should 
be selected with reference to its suitability for 
the teaching and study of the fundamental rules, 
and beyond this teachers of mixed schools should 
not be allowed to carry their classes. The ad- 
mission of books of mental arithmetic and hieher 
arithmetic will open wide the door for the in- 
crease of those innumerable absurdities and de- 
vices, hitherto tolerated on the plea of discipline, 
but now excluded for more useful branches of 
learning. 

A geography for public-school purposes must 
also be comprised within the limits of one con- 
venient book. Primary, secondary and compre- 
hensive geographies must be rejected, and the 
work of some author who, with a proper appre- 
ciation of the wants of the schools, has been 
able to compress the essential parts of the sub- 
ject within proper limits for these schools, should 
be adopted. 

Grammar, far beyond what it is profitable for 



58 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the pupils in the public schools to study, can be 
set forth in one small volume. Such a book 
should be found and adopted. 

There must also be a limit fixed for the num- 
ber of Readers to be used in the public schools. 
Many ingeniously constructed arguments have 
been devised for the purpose of proving the 
utility of a series of many books, but no good 
reason can be given why the number of Readers 
should exceed three, the first beginning with the 
alphabet and the third ending with such exer- 
cises in reading as will be adapted to the wants 
of the most advanced classes in ungraded schools. 
For purposes of declamation, which in this coun- 
try, where almost every man has occasion to give 
public expression to his views on many subjects, 
is a very important branch of study, and one 
which should find a place in every school, a 
" speaker " or book of selections should be 
added to the series of Readers. 

A system of penmanship and of vocal music 
added to the foregoing will constitute what has 
hitherto been regarded a sufficient course of 
study for the public schools. It is now pro- 
posed, however, to occupy the time which has 
been saved by abridging the study of arithme- 
tic, geography and grammar in the study of 
physiology, botany, natural philosophy, chemis- 
try and geology. Suitable text-books on all of 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 59 

these sciences have been prepared especially for 
the use of schools. There is little danger that 
school-boards will introduce too many branches 
of learning, but there is great danger that they 
will admit too many books and permit the con- 
sumption of too much time on special subjects. 
After a series of books, covering all the sub- 
jects intended to be taught in the school, shall 
have been selected, let the action of the board 
be as the laws of the Medes and Persians — ir- 
revocable. There is no part of the administra- 
tion of the public-school system in which there 
is greater demand for unwavering firmness, than 
in the adoption and maintenance of a series of 
books for each district. Publishers and pub- 
lishers' agents will, by specious arguments, cor- 
ruption, bribery and fraud, labor in season and 
out of season to persuade school-boards, that 
the books in use in their schools are inferior, 
and that the books offered at " adoption rates," 
"absurdly cheap," are in every respect superior. 
Generally, these arguments, if they may be thus 
dignified, are the merest fictions ; by listening 
to them incalculable mischief may result to the 
people's schools. In a score of Readers, an 
equal number of Arithmetics, Geographies and 
Grammars by as many authors, there cannot be 
found a sufficient difference of merit to warrant 
a change from one to the other, even if the pro- 



60 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

posed new books were to be supplied gratui- 
tously during a year. The duty of local school- 
boards in this matter can be summed up in two 
brief formulas : first, adopt a good series of 
books, and, secondly, refuse to make any changes 
until time and the progress of science shall make 
apparent the necessity for change. The frequent 
change of text-books embarrasses the teacher, 
confuses the pupils and wastes the money of the 
people. It is a loss without recompense to all, 
excepting only booksellers and bookmakers. 

SALARY. 

The question of salary is very properly left to 
the local authorities for adjustment. In different 
localities different prices are paid for labor. The 
same laws that govern prices in other professions 
and vocations should obtain in paying teachers. 
Generally, the salaries paid for this important 
service are much below the sums that like abil- 
ity commands in almost any other position. In 
many of the large cities, where bricklayers and 
carpenters command from three dollars to five 
dollars per day, and where clerks and bookkeep- 
ers of ordinary capacity receive from fifteen hun- 
dred dollars to two thousand dollars per annum, 
school-teachers who receive one thousand dol- 
lars a year are thought to be exceedingly well 
paid ; in many places where house-servants re- 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 6 1 

ceive from two dollars and a half to three dol- 
lars a week, with boarding and the comforts of 
home, a lady teaching school and receiving three 
hundred dollars a year for her work, and paying 
half of it for boarding, is regarded as highly 
favored in the way of emoluments. The fact 
that more money is commanded by a like amount 
of talent and skill in almost any other vocation 
is the chief cause of the want of experienced 
teachers, everywhere so keenly felt. The dis- 
tricts, therefore, that are able to pay fair salaries 
for fair qualifications, and thus secure the ser- 
vices during a number of years of a corps of 
well-qualified teachers, are exceedingly fortu- 
nate. If the inhabitants in any district would 
combine and provide dwelling-houses for their 
teachers, and thus settle them permanently, pay- 
ing them reasonable compensation, they would 
derive incalculable benefits therefrom. No time 
need then be lost, year after year, in teachers 
and pupils learning to know each other, and in 
the teacher ascertaining the capacity of his pupils 
and the wants of the district, and this would 
well repay the taxpayers for such investment. 
Statistics in some of the Eastern States show, 
that more than eighty per cent, of the teachers 
employed in the public schools serve in that ca- 
pacity during a period of less than one year. 
Or, to reverse the statement, only about twenty 



62 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

per centum of the teaching force of the United 
States brings to the labors of the school-room 
any professional experience. It need not be 
argued that this in itself is one of the most 
serious obstructions to public-school progress. 
Whatever, therefore, can be done to increase 
the number of experienced teachers, will greatly 
benefit those who attend the schools. One of 
the most powerful influences operating to draw 
active, intelligent and well-educated young men 
and young women from school-room work is 
the fact, that their time and talents command 
higher wages in other spheres of labor. The 
local authorities, therefore, should regard it as 
the very worst economy to attempt to save 
money by keeping down the salaries paid to 
teachers. It may with much more profit be 
saved on buildings, grounds, furniture and books, 
but with infinitely more profit on many other 
things in no way connected with public-school 
education. 

No specific directions can be given on this 
subject. The financial condition of the district, 
the appreciation of the people for learning and 
their willingness to have their children educated 
in the public schools will determine the ques- 
tion. The utmost effort should be put forth to 
advance the price paid for teaching, and the 
salaries should be graded according to qualifica- 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 6$ 

tion, and not according to age or sex. Women 
who do the work as thoroughly are entitled to 
the same pay that men would receive in the 
same position. Generally, it will be found that 
better talent and higher qualifications can be 
obtained for a given sum by employing ladies. 
They are more likely, also, to remain in the pro- 
fession, for the reason that fewer places of labor 
are open to them. 

EXAMINATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF TEACHERS. 

Before a teacher is employed to take charge 
of a school, he should be examined in order to 
ascertain whether he possesses proper quali- 
fications for the position he expects to occupy. 
In every examination of teachers two qualifica- 
tions are to be discovered: ist. The possession 
of the requisite knowledge ; 2d. The possession 
of the requisite skill. A person may possess 
knowledge, and yet not have skill to communi- 
cate that knowledge to others. The examina- 
tion, therefore, should be directed chiefly to as- 
certain whether the applicant possesses skill to 
impart knowledge. If he is an experienced 
teacher, he should be able to produce certificates 
of his skill from the school authorities under 
whose jurisdiction he had been employed. 

If the examination is skillfully conducted, the 
answer to every question propounded by the 



64 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

examiner will show whether the examined has 
mastered the art of his profession. It is a la- 
mentable fact that in a large majority of cases 
the examination is most illogically conducted. 
Teachers are made to puzzle their brains over 
the solutions of intricate problems in mathemat- 
ics, or the explanation of disputed points in 
grammar, or the spelling of words not found in 
the literature of the times, nor used by any of 
the great writers in poetry or prose, or to give 
the boundaries of some out-of-the-way province 
or the locality of some obscure point on the 
earth's surface. The ability to answer such 
questions divulges the fact that the teacher is a 
mere curiosity-monger, and has employed his 
time in the finding out of unusual and useless 
things. He is, therefore, of all men the most 
unfit to teach a school. A much more sensible 
and useful method of examinine teachers is to 
require each applicant, to exhibit to the exam- 
iner and to the school authorities present, in 
what manner he would explain the principles of 
arithmetic to a class, in what manner he would 
introduce the subject of botany, how he would 
explain to a class the astronomical principles 
involved in the study of geography, and how he 
would begin the study of grammar. The an- 
swer to such questions will at once discover 
whether the person answering them possesses 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 65 

knowledge accompanied with skill to instruct 
others. 

School superintendents and persons usually 
employed to examine teachers follow too closely 
the method adopted by the colleges, forgetting, 
or seeming, indeed, never to have known, that 
the objects of the two examinations are wholly 
dissimilar. A college professor wishes simply 
to discover whether the applicant for matricu- 
lation possesses the amount of knowledge, on 
specific subjects, requisite to enter the classes 
he proposes to join ; whereas the school author- 
ities wish to know whether the applicant is 
skilled in the art of communicating knowledge 
to the untaught. 

Higher Qualifications. — It is admitted by all 
schoolmen that he, who possesses a knowledge 
simply of the branches to be taught in a school, 
and that, too, only so far as the purposes of the 
school may require, is indeed a very superficial 
teacher. To every branch of learning there are 
many collaterals which explain the principles of 
and extend the knowledge on the subject. A 
teacher should be familiar with these collateral, 
or co-ordinate branches of learning. A formal 
examination, therefore, of an applicant for the 
position of teacher in the branches required to 
be taught in the district, will simply exhibit the 
teacher's ability to explain certain technical facts. 

6* E 



66 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

It shows no general comprehension of the sub- 
ject, no thoroughness of knowledge, no general 
observation, no liberal culture; in short, this ex- 
amination in no sense discovers whether or not 
an applicant possesses, that general discipline 
of mind and accumulation of knowledge, which 
would enable him to lift up the school from the 
mere routine work of study and recitation, as 
laid down in the books, to higher achievements. 
A general conversation between a teacher and 
an intelligent school-board will serve to draw 
out the teacher's powers. * 

It is not intended to suggest that the tech- 

* In one of the counties in Pennsylvania most advanced on the sub- 
ject of education, the school-directors of a township containing thirteen 
schools had convened for the annual examination and employment of 
teachers. The forenoon was consumed in the transaction of general 
miscellaneous business. Dinner was provided at a village hotel. Upon 
one end of the table was a large roast of beef. Opposite to this, on one 
side of the table, was an old gentleman, a member of the school-board, 
and on the other side was a young man not yet arrived at the age of his 
major-ity, an applicant for a school in the district. The old gentleman 
took up the carving-knife and handed it across the table to the young man 
with a request that he should carve the roast. With perfect composure the 
young man took the knife and fork, carved the roast and served the 
gentlemen about the table. When the dinner was over, the school officer 
took the young man aside, and after a conversation of ten minutes said 
to him, " I want you to come to our village and teach our school." The 
old gentleman had discovered in the manners of the young man at the 
table that which led him to believe that he had enjoyed a liberal train- 
ing, and that he possessed those qualifications which would make him 
a successful teacher. Subsequent events fully justified this opinion, for 
the school under his charge became soon one of the most celebrated in 
the county, and though he remained but two years in the village, seven- 
teen of his pupils became school-teachers. 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 6? 

nical examination is to be dispensed with, but 
rather that this examination shall not be over- 
estimated in its usefulness. The possession of 
a liberal culture and a wide range of informa- 
tion will be discovered much more readily, in a 
general conversation on each branch presented, 
than by any system of mere technical examina- 
tion that can be devised. 

Every examination of teachers should be con- 
ducted in the presence of the school authorities, 
and no member of the board of education should 
be, for light considerations, excused from being 
present, when the persons who are to be em- 
ployed as teachers in the district are examined. 

Professional Certificates. — It is essential to the 
elevation and dignity of the profession that pro- 
vision be made for the granting of professional 
certificates, the holders of which should be 
everywhere exempt from the ordeal of a re- 
examination as now conducted, but they should 
not be exempt from such inspection as will ex- 
hibit to the authorities, by whom they are to be 
employed, the possession of such qualifications 
as they desire to secure for the use of the 
schools in their district. It will not be neces- 
sary, for this purpose alone, to secure the pres- 
ence of an official examiner. An intelligent 
school-board will be able, by a direct conver- 
sation on the subject of school-teaching, the 



68 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

branches to be taught and the manner of teach- 
ing them, to ascertain whether the applicant for 
employment in their 'district possesses the re- 
quisite qualifications. This, whilst it is certainly 
more in keeping with professional dignity, is 
also more practical and reasonable when the fact 
is kept in view, that a professional certificate, gen- 
erally, is evidence of knowledge possessed, and 
the only thing left for the board to discover is, 
whether the person holding the certificate is en- 
dowed with such general qualities and has at- 
tained that degree of culture, which will make 
him desirable as a teacher for their neigh- 
borhood. t 

SUPERVISION. 

A proper supervision of the schools in any 
district is an important, and at the same time a 
very delicate, duty. Two general systems are 
in use. The oldest, and also the most unsatis- 
factory, is the committee system. The school- 
board divides itself into committees, the members 
of which by turns visit the schools. Under this 
system the supervision amounts to little more 
than occasional informal visits to the school- 
room, where a useless interruption of the school 
and a useless conversation with the teacher 
occur; the conversation is more frequently on 
the condition of the weather, the school furni- 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 69 

ture, the supply of fuel and other equally un- 
professional and irrelevant topics, than upon the 
management of the school, the methods of teach- 
ing and the progress made. Occasionally it 
happens that some member of the school-board 
possesses the requisite qualifications, and has 
sufficient leisure to enable him to visit the 
schools with some degree of regularity. When 
this is the case, and such a member of the board 
can be induced to undertake the work, some 
good may result by such departure from the 
committee system. 

There is, however, but one system by which 
efficient and satisfactory supervision can be ob- 
tained, and that is by the employment of a proper 
person as district, city or county superintendent. 
In many of the States provision is made by acts 
of Assembly for the employment of school super- 
intendents. In some States one superintendent 
is employed for each Congressional district. In 
others one is employed for each county, and in 
others special districts are established for school 
purposes. In some of the States laws have been 
enacted providing for the appointment of city 
and district superintendents, who preside over 
smaller districts, and therefore render a more 
efficient service than it is possible to obtain from 
an officer who has charge of a larger division of 
the State. 



70 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

In the manner of appointment, the scope of 
duties, the qualifications required and general 
utility, there is a wide difference in this orifice 
and officer in the several States. The system 
which has given most satisfaction to persons in- 
terested in the efficiency of public schools is 
that, in which the superintendent is chosen by 
local boards of directors or of education, as the 
case may be, in the district over which the super- 
intendent is to preside. The choice of this offi- 
cer is thus removed from the excitement and 
from the demoralizing influences of political 
campaigns. It makes him to a proper degree 
responsible to the local school authorities. It 
enables those who best know what is required 
to select a person of proper qualifications for 
the office. In some cases the directors also fix 
the compensation which the superintendent shall 
receive, and prescribe the duties that he shall 
perform. In some States the law prescribes 
that the superintendent shall not only be learned 
in the arts, sciences and literature, but that he 
shall be experienced in the art of teaching. A 
strong argument in favor of this system is, it 
gives harmony and unity to the school authori- 
ties within the district, it keeps the school man- 
agement as far removed as possible from the 
corrupting influences of party politics, and, in the 
third place, it makes the superintendent depend- 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 7 1 

ent for continuance in office upon the people 
whom he serves. These advantages are likely 
to be lost to the people in those States where 
superintendents are chosen by ballot at general 
elections, or where they are appointed by some 
central State authority. 

Whenever it shall occur that a county or dis- 
trict is so large that one superintendent cannot 
exercise a close and thorough supervision of 
the schools under his jurisdiction, the local 
school authorities should, by petition to the 
Legislature for power, or otherwise, procure a 
division of the district, or permission to appoint 
local superintendents, who might preside over 
sub-districts and report to the general superin- 
tendent. It has now become almost a universal 
practice among superintendents to conduct the 
examination of teachers in the presence of 
school-boards. This duty involves severe labor 
on the part of the superintendent. 

Boards of education, everywhere, should pro- 
vide for a thorough supervision, by the employ- 
ment of a proper and well-cultivated person to 
perform that duty. The appointment of such 
an officer does not, however, release the mem- 
bers of school-boards from exercising a general 
supervision over the schools under their charge. 
They should require frequent reports from the 
superintendents, they should be present at all 



7 2 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

examinations, and they should visit as often as 
practicable, and the oftener the better, the 
schools for the good conduct of which they are 
responsible to the people. 

Out of School. — Theoretically, the State pro- 
vides for the education of every child within its 
borders. It is a notorious and lamentable re- 
flection, that in every State in the Union many 
children never attend the public schools, or any 
other schools, or attend so irregularly or for so 
short a time as to derive very little benefit from 
them. The local school authorities should hold 
it to be one of their highest duties to insist upon 
a regular attendance, or as nearly so as practi- 
cable, from every child in the district. School- 
officers should make it their business to visit 
such families as neglect to send their children 
to school, and by persuasion, if possible, induce 
these short-sighted parents to give to their chil- 
dren the advantages of such an education as the 
public schools afford. There can be but little 
doubt, that half the delinquency in any district 
could be removed by judicious efforts put forth 
by the school-board in this direction. Part of 
the work of supervision, therefore, consists of 
placing in well-provided schools all of the eligi- 
ble children in the Commonwealth, and until this 
is fully accomplished, the school authorities in 
the localities where children are out of school 



SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 73 

may be reasonably held to be derelict in the dis- 
charge of their duties. It is true, this may be 
regarded as extra-official work. It has hitherto 
been unrecognized as a duty, yet it is unques- 
tionably one of the most important services that 
a school-officer can render to the Common- 
wealth. If schools are provided, convenient for 
all, and if all enjoy the advantages of these pro- 
visions, then the system obtains its full force, 
and the authorities, to whom the application of 
the system is intrusted, have discharged their 
full duties to the public who have placed with 
them a most sacred trust. 

7 




CHAPTER IV. 




ORGANIZATION. 

TEACHER, who has been elected to 
take charge of a school in a neighbor- 
hood where he is a stranger, should 
without delay, cultivate the acquaint- 
ance of the families that reside in the district. 
There is but one way to accomplish this effectu- 
ally, and that is by a personal visit made to each 
household. This may consume a week or more 
of the time just preceding the opening of the 
school, but there is no better use to which it 
can be put. Such visits will convince the peo- 
ple that the teacher takes an interest in his work 
and desires to do it well. He, therefore, in the 
beginning, secures the confidence of those most 
interested in the success of his school. He 
should not go from house to house armed with 
book and pencil, as a census-taker would go, 
but should call as one desiring to cultivate the 
acquaintance of the families, and after having 

74 



OR GANIZA TION. 7 5 

modestly introduced himself, enter into a general 
conversation on the subject of the school ; thus 
he may ascertain how many children from each 
family will be likely to attend school, what their 
ages and advancements are, and what books 
they have studied. From the children he can 
learn who were in the several classes, how many 
classes there were in the school, how the school 
was organized, and many other matters of detail 
that will assist him in making up a complete 
schedule of classes and studies, ready for use 
on the opening day. The facts gathered from 
house to house, that are of sufficient importance 
to be remembered, should be entered in a mem- 
orandum-book convenient for reference. Not 
the least of the advantages arising from this 
practice will be an increased attendance on the 
first day of school. There will have been estab- 
lished beforehand an acquaintance between the 
teacher and his pupils, and that will facilitate their 
coming to an understanding on the organization 
of the work of the school. 

With all the facts that may' be gathered by 
visiting, as above suggested, before him, the 
teacher may construct a hypothetical organiza- 
tion. A time-table for exercises and a schedule 
of studies and a general plan may be mapped 
out. This will enable the teacher to construct 
his classes, and to begin work systematically 



y6 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

from the opening of the school on the first 
day. 

The chief business of the teacher on the first 
day is to win the respect of the pupils, and to 
establish confidence between them and himself. 
Nothing will go farther to accomplish this than 
a systematic beginning. The fact that the 
teacher has ascertained the names of all the 
children in the neighborhood, and has arranged 
them into classes, will enable him to classify all 
the pupils who present themselves at the open- 
ing of the school, to assign places for beginning 
each study, and to post a time-table in a conve- 
nient place in the school-room, that with slight 
variation will become the permanent order of 
exercises during- the term. This of itself will 
not fail to please the pupils, and to give them 
full confidence in the teacher's ability to "keep" 
a good school. 

ORDER OF EXERCISES. 

In constructing an order of exercises, this 
general principle should be followed: the young 
classes and the simplest lessons should come 
first in the morning. These may be consid- 
ered as constituting the first general division 
in the school. The second division would com- 
prise the pupils who are engaged in the more 
advanced branches of study. When the les- 



OR GANIZA TION. 77 

sons of the first division shall have been dis- 
posed of, those in the second division should 
be taken up, beginning with the most difficult, 
thus reversing the order observed in the first 
division. 

Every school should open each day with sing- 
ing, and, unless objection is made, the singing 
should be followed by the reading of a passage 
from the Scriptures, and by prayer. No teacher 
should permit a term of his school to be opened 
without these exercises. If he is himself unable 
to conduct them, some proper person in the 
district should be invited to be present at the 
opening of the school on the first day to invoke 
God's blessing upon the work about to be 
begun. 

Teachers will find it convenient and useful to 
devote five minutes, immediately after the close 
of the opening exercises every morning, to a talk 
on the business of the day, and on matters in 
general, etc. 

The classes in the alphabet should be first on 
the list for recitation. These may be followed 
by classes in spelling and reading, and these by 
classes in arithmetic, geography, history and the 
other sciences. Botany and geology should 
never be studied in the winter season in north- 
ern latitudes. No knowledge worth having can 
be imparted to children by teaching these sci- 
7* 



?8 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ences wholly within the barren limits of the 
school-room. 

THE TIME-TABLE. 

For the convenience of arranging a time-table 
and constructing a schedule, schools are classified 
as follows : Mixed schools, Graded schools, Acad- 
emies and Colleges. Mixed schools are such as 
are kept in most of the rural districts, in which 
pupils of all grades study and recite in one room. 
Graded schools comprise all in which two or 
more teachers are employed, the pupils being 
classified according to the progress they have 
made. A time-table for a mixed school should 
fix a time for opening in the morning, times for 
recesses before noon, for a midday recess, for 
afternoon recesses and for closing. Thus the 
day will be divided into nearly equal parts. 
The teacher will then arrange his classes for re- 
citations so as to occupy these periods of time 
to the best advantage ; five minutes of time in 
each division should be reserved for miscellane- 
ous duties. 

The classes of small children should have 
short recitations after the opening of the school 
in the morning and immediately after each re- 
cess during the day. These pupils have not 
yet learned the art of preparing lessons ; they 
require instruction. It is unwise to attempt to 



OR GANJZA TION. 79 

give them long lessons ; short and frequent ex- 
ercises will accomplish much more in the way of 
imparting knowledge, and at the same time will 
keep the little ones in better discipline. 

Some of the more advanced pupils should re- 
cite before the first morning recess, and all of 
the more difficult recitations should be disposed 
of before twelve o'clock noon. Exercises in pen- 
manship, composition, elocution, drawing and 
music should be reserved for the afternoon, but 
neither penmanship nor drawing lessons should 
be executed immediately after recess, as the 
nerves are then too unsteady for such work. 
The practice of devoting, at long intervals, half a 
day to exercises in composition and declamation 
rarely proves satisfactory. It will be found much 
more interesting to all, and much more profit- 
able to the participants in these exercises, to 
divide the school into convenient classes, which 
can be made to rotate with each other, and with 
other exercises, as music lessons, drawing, etc., 
in such order as to consume a short interval 
near the close of each school-day. 

After a table of exercises has been adopted it 
should be strictly adhered to in every particular, 
as the slightest variation therefrom destroys the 
confidence which its publication invokes, and 
thereby invites irregularity and confusion. If 
experience proves that changes in the schedule 



80 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

are necessary, their introduction should be duly 
announced, and the reasons for their adoption 
explained to the school. The introduction of 
recesses is intended to abolish the practice of 
passing in and out of the school-room by pupils 
during school-hours, as well as for purposes of 
recreation and exercise. 

The ancient pail of water and tin-cup have 
long since been abolished from well-regulated 
schools, as nuisances. Every schoolhouse should 
be provided with water, so that at recess such 
pupils as desire may obtain it for drinking, but 
the pernicious practice of keeping water in the 
school-room, and of allowing the children dur- 
ing school-hours to leave their seats to obtain 
it, should not be permitted. Of course to this 
general rule with regard to leaving the room 
or partaking of water there will be occasionally 
exceptions, and of the propriety of these the 
teacher must be the judge, being careful always 
to err rather on the side of leniency. 

CLASSIFICATION NECESSARY. 

It is deemed unnecessary to present any 
arguments here in favor of classification. It 
is assumed that no teacher would be employed 
in any part of the United States, who does not 
recognize the necessity for a thorough classifica- 
tion of pupils in schools of every grade. 



OK GA NIZA 7 VON. 8 1 

In the construction of classes it will always 
happen that dull and apt pupils are harnessed 
together. The effort to drag along a slow lad, 
and the attempt to goad him into the pace of 
his more apt companion, would be injurious ; 
so likewise to retard the progress of the bright 
pupil, in order to keep him by the side of his 
dull classmate, would be equally improper. 
Other studies must, therefore, be provided for 
such as are able to do additional work. The 
apt pupils may be taken together to constitute 
a class in some additional branch of learning 
that can be introduced into the school ; they 
will thus have less time to devote to each study, 
and yet all will be profitably employed. 

FORMING CLASSES. 

There is little danger of constructing classes 
too large in mixed schools. It rarely happens 
in the rural districts that any considerable num- 
ber of pupils will be prepared to pursue the 
same studies at the same time. The general 
suggestion, therefore, that a teacher should 
arrange into the several classes, for which he 
has provided, all pupils who are able to pur- 
sue the branches of study laid down in the 
schedule, is deemed sufficient. This observa- 
tion, however, applies only to the advanced 
pupils in our rural districts. The younger chil- 



82 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

dren must always be formed into small classes 
that will make short recitations in short lessons, 
whilst the advanced classes need recite but once 
a day in each study ; in some of the less import- 
ant branches, recitations may be given on alter- 
nate days by alternating classes with each other. 
Greater progress will be made, however, by 
daily recitations, though they be short, than by 
less frequent and longer recitations. It is ad- 
visable, therefore, to construct the order of exer- 
cises so as to provide as nearly as possible for 
daily recitations in every study. 

ASSIGNING LESSONS. 

In assigning- lessons to each class, the aver- 
age ability of the members must be taken as the 
measurement of the task to be imposed. The 
duller pupils must not be discouraged, and those 
who master their lessons must have enough to 
do. By patience and well-directed perseverance 
the teacher will soon be able to establish a gen- 
eral equality in the class, which will prove to be 
of great advantage throughout the term. 

GRADED SCHOOLS. 

The organization for graded schools is usually 
constructed by the local school-authorities, such 
as boards of control, school-directors and super- 
intendents. Teachers are employed to take 



OR GANIZA TION. 8 3 

charge of special departments, and these de- 
partments have their classes and recitations, 
books and studies provided for in advance, in- 
dependent of any action of the teachers. The 
proper organization of such schools, therefore, 
is treated of in another chapter. 




CHAPTER V. 



MANAGEMENT, 




OLLOWING the work of organizing 
is that of managing a school. The 
subject of School Government is not 
included in this division. The teacher 
is a legislator, an executive officer and an in- 
structor. Before proceeding to the considera- 
tion of Methods of Instruction, it is proper to set 
forth a system for the management of the busi- 
ness Of TEACHING. 



THE FIRST LESSON. 

After a school has been organized, the classes 
constructed, the times for recitation designated, 
as directed in the previous chapter, all things 
are in readiness for the pupils to enter upon the 
real work of the session. A lesson must now 
be assigned for each class. The teacher should 
be careful not to overtask his pupils in the be- 
ginning. Having first ascertained the average 
capacity of the members of the class and the 



84 



MA NA GEMENT. 8 5 

average progress they have made, he should 
designate a place for beginning, and assign les- 
sons entirely within the average comprehension 
and ability. 

Incalculable advantage will accrue to both 
teacher and pupils, if the teacher will in ad- 
vance of the time for meeting his class deter- 
mine the place for beginning and the extent of 
the lesson to be given. He can then be pre- 
pared to give, in a conversation of five minutes' 
duration, a few practical hints to his class, sug- 
gesting a logical method of taking up the study, 
and briefly state what he will expect the class 
to accomplish in the recitation. This will estab- 
lish pleasant relations between the teacher and 
his pupils, and will be an exhibition on his part 
of the possession of a thorough knowledge of 
the subject beyond what is found in the text- 
book. Recognizing this, the pupils will look to 
the teacher as a friend and helper in the labors 
that they are about to undertake. 

It is essential to the existence of a proper 
relationship in the school-room, that the teacher 
shall not be regarded in any sense as a spy to 
detect the imperfections of the pupils, or a police 
officer to insist upon the performance of difficult 
tasks or to punish delinquencies. By beginning 
work as has been indicated the teacher assumes 
the position of an instructor, he establishes 

8 



86 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

himself in the confidence of his pupils by giving 
evidence that he is able to teach. All this is 
essential to the success of the school. 

These general directions, though they are 
emphasized in their importance in the case of 
classes coming for the first time before a teacher 
may with advantage and profit be adopted for 
the introduction of every new subject that is 
encountered in the progress of study. To illus- 
trate : suppose a class in arithmetic is about to 
enter upon the study of proportion. The time 
for the first recitation should be wholly consumed 
by the teacher in explanation of the subject. 
The members of a proportion should be written 
on the blackboard, and their relation to each 
other fully explained, in a method suited to the 
comprehension of every pupil. This done, the 
teacher may write upon the board a simple ex- 
ample, as, " If twelve hats cost twenty-four dol- 
lar's, what will seven hats cost ?" The laws of 
proportion having been explained to the class, 
the teacher proceeds to construct from this 
problem a proportion in accordance with the 
principles he has already laid down. There are 
three members of the proportion given, and a 
fourth is required. Now, this required term will 
be the answer to the question — namely, the price 
of seven hats — and will be expressed in dollars. 
It is evident, therefore, that the fourth term of 



MANAGEMENT. 8? 

the proportion will be dollars, and as the third 
term must be of the same denomination as 
the fourth, it also must be dollars ; therefore, 
write twenty-four dollars on the blackboard as 
the third term of the proportion. The third term 
is the price of twelve hats; the fourth term when 
found will be the price of seven hats ; conse- 
quently, the fourth term will be smaller than the 
third. According to the principles of propor- 
tion already explained, if the fourth term is 
smaller than the third, the second term must be 
smaller than the first. Hence, write seven hats 
for the second term and twelve hats for the first 
term. It is not necessary here to explain the 
methods of solving proportions. 

If the teacher has been clear in his demon- 
stration, his class will be able, from the illustra- 
tion given, to construct a proportion for every 
example found in any ordinary arithmetic under 
this rule, and having thus acquired by the 
process of deduction the rule for the solution of 
problems involving these principles, this rule 
will be part of the pupils' positive knowledge, 
not to be forgotten, as mere memorized matter 
very often is. 

Suppose it is the geography class, and that it 
is about to enter upon the study of one of the 
grand divisions — as, for example, Europe. The 
teacher should now have before him a map of 



88 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the world. Using the knowledge the class has 
already acquired in the study of other grand 
divisions, the teacher should state briefly the 
historical relations between what has been 
studied and what is about to be studied. If the 
class has passed over that portion of the book 
which treats of the western continent, as is 
usual in geographies published in the United 
States, it will be profitable to call attention to 
the manner in which America was discovered, 
and how it was settled by people from Europe ; 
how Europe, prior to that time, had been settled 
by people from Asia, thus showing the class 
that it is entering upon the study of the geog- 
raphy of an older settled country than that of 
which it had previously studied. The general 
characteristics of the government, the people, the 
political subdivisions and the characters of the 
nations and of the people inhabiting these sub- 
divisions should be outlined, contrasting what is 
to be with what has been studied, in such man- 
ner as will tend to arouse the curiosity and fix 
the attention of the pupils upon the subject be- 
fore them. The general geographical relation 
of the new with the old should be noted, to- 
gether with such matters of general interest 
as tend to show the connection between them, 
as may occur to the mind of the teacher. 

Suppose, again, that the subject to be taken 



MANAGEMENT. 89 

up by the class is botany ; the teacher should 
be prepared in advance with specimens of plants, 
seeds and flowers gathered from the neighbor- 
ing fields or woods. He should explain the 
nature and scope of the science of botany, note 
the pleasures that will arise during, and the 
benefits that may result from, its study. Ex- 
hibiting to the class the specimens before him, 
he will be able to show, that on some plants the 
leaves grow on the stem opposite each other, 
that on others they come out on opposite sides 
alternately, and that in others they grow in cir- 
cles or whorls ; that plants differ in the form 
of their roots, some having straight, slender, 
branching roots, and others having bulbs, and 
that they differ in the form and structure of 
their fruit. The general peculiarities of the 
flower should also attract attention. In some 
there is but one petal, in others, two, three, four 
and five, or a great many. The class may be 
told that plants are arranged in great families, 
and that these are subdivided into classes, gen- 
era, species and varieties, indicated by their 
several similarities and differences. 

These illustrations are sufficient to explain 
the general method. It may be readily applied 
in every branch of study introduced into the 
public schools, and the time allotted for the first 
recitation of each class in any subject cannot be 

8* 



90 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

more profitably consumed. The lesson pre- 
viously determined upon by the teacher may 
then be assigned, and in the preparation of that 
lesson for recitation, each pupil will be pleased 
to find, that he is entering upon the work of dis- 
covering the facts, that have been indicated and 
clothed with new interest by the preliminary 
remarks of the teacher. 

It will readily be imagined how much more 
eagerly pupils will enter upon the study of 
a subject that has been so pleasantly unfolded 
to them, than would be the case if the same had 
been harshly thrust at them with an implied in- 
difference, as if to say, " There ! take that and 
make the most of it." 

By some educators the idea is entertained 
that the acquisition of knowledge must not be 
made easy and agreeable. Upon all such, of 
course, these suggestions are lost, but to that 
large class of intelligent, educated and conscien- 
tious men and women, engaged in the manage- 
ment of schools throughout the country, and 
who are putting forth earnest efforts to elevate 
and methodize the business of school-teaching, 
this practice is commended with the full confi- 
dence, that wherever it is intelligently applied it 
will give satisfaction to both teacher and pupil. 
When the study of a subject shall have been 
concluded, the teacher may, by a succinct and 



MAN A G EMENT 9 1 

well-digested review of die matter gone over, 
greatly assist the members of the class in fixing 
upon the mind, in logical order, the leading facts 
in such manner as will enable them to grasp the 
whole subject in a single effort. 

NUMBER OF STUDIES. 

The number of branches that should be 
studied, at the same time, will to some extent 
depend upon the capacity of the pupil. The 
universal experience in the best schools, both in 
this country and in Europe, has settled upon 
the assigning of three studies as the course 
which may be pursued with the most profit to 
the student. Reading, writing, declamation, 
composition, music, drawing, and the like, are 
not included in the catalogue of full studies. 
These are taken up in convenient order in addi- 
tion to the three studies that require more time 
and closer application. Occasionally pupils will 
be found so slow of comprehension as to be 
unable to keep up their work in three classes. 
These may be allowed to take but two reg- 
ular studies, and to consume their time in the 
somewhat physical exercises as above indicated. 
Others will possess an aptness to acquire know- 
ledge that will enable them to take up four, or 
even five, of the regular studies, in addition to 



92 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the ordinary complement of those branches 
requiring little or no preparation. 

The tendency in most public schools is to 
load down the pupils with too much work. 
There are few graded schools in the villages 
and cities throughout the United States, in which 
pupils are not required to recite in from ten to 
fifteen, or even a greater number, of branches 
of study every week. This, in every sense, is a 
pernicious practice tending to confusion of 
thought, and is prejudicial to sound mental dis- 
cipline. It is far better to take up three studies, 
and to prosecute them with reasonable rapidity, 
and when the limits of a public-school course 
shall be reached to take up three others, and 
thus, in the same time, fully as many branches 
can be studied, without the confusing of facts 
and philosophy, but in a manner that will enable 
the pupil to obtain a distinct knowledge of each 
science, and to use the facts of each in the elu- 
cidation of the principles of others. 

THREE STUDIES ENOUGH. 

If it is true, as experience teaches, that three 
studies, at the utmost, afford sufficient work for 
young men in the colleges and universities, it is 
much more true of the pupils of tender ages 
in the mixed schools of the rural districts, and 
of the graded schools of villages and cities. No 



MANAGEMENT. 

man who has enjoyed the advantages of a col- 
lege education, and who has attained that cul- 
ture which creates within him an active sympa- 
thy for the injured of every class, can look with 
complacency upon the troops of girls and boys 
passing to and from school, loaded down with 
satchels and packages of books, that a young 
man at college could, by no act of persuasion, be 
forced to totter under. On the college campus 
an armful of books is indicative of feeble- mind- 
edness. It would be uncharitable to judge the 
girls and boys of the public schools by this rule, 
but it is true, that the system of education which 
induces this book-lugging practice is the chief 
source of that feeble-mindedness, which shows 
itself in the general obtuseness of intellect with 
which every effort at essential progress is so 
obstinately confronted. Whilst, therefore, the 
claim of scientific study is urged upon the atten- 
tion of the public-school authorities, the neces- 
sity for such an arrangement of classes as will 
provide for the studying of all branches in 
groups of three is insisted upon. 

THOROUGHNESS NECESSARY. 

Thoroughness in the work of every day is 
the key which unlocks that mystery of success, 
whereby well-qualified teachers lead their classes 
in regular succession, through numerous branches 



94 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of learning by prosecuting but a small number 
at the same time. Thus, instead of giving one 
term to "mental arithmetic," another term to 
"written arithmetic," and a third to "higher 
arithmetic," let the subject be taken up and dis- 
posed of in one or two sessions. Let grammar 
and geography be treated in the same manner ; 
then, with this put behind him, the pupil will ad- 
vance to other branches of study, in which the 
principles and formulas previously learned are 
applied, extended and utilized. A teacher, who 
understands the subject of arithmetic and the art 
of teaching it, will be able to so instruct his class, 
by going over the subject once, that it will not be 
necessary to drag the dull length of that subject 
through the numerous terms of the whole period 
of school-life. Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, 
natural philosophy, chemistry, geography, geolo- 
gy, botany and most other branches of study, 
that can be pursued in the public schools, or in 
higher institutions, employ the principles and ap- 
ply the processes of arithmetic, and they furnish 
sufficient opportunity for review. The study of 
abstract principles is a means of disciplining the 
mind, but the use of those principles, in the 
search for knowledge in other paths, establishes 
them as part of the working power of the mind. 
The study of history affords the best reviewing 
grounds wherein to display the facts of geog- 



MANA GEMENT. 9 5 

raphy. Botany and geology review both history 
and geography. 

HIGHEST RESULTS REQUIRED. 

A teacher who was devoted to the study of 
arithmetic, chiefly because he understood noth- 
ing else, with countenance glowing with imag- 
ined victory, exclaimed, " Do you pretend to 
say that a class of boys and girls derives no bene- 
fit from the exercises found in our higher arith- 
metics ?" To this the very pertinent answer 
was given: "It is not enough that pupils shall 
merely derive benefit from any exercise ; there 
is a greater question to be settled, namely: Is 
the time of the pupil so occupied as to secure 
to himself the greatest possible advantage ?" 
That teacher who is content simply because he 
is doing good, certainly falls very far short of 
the discharge of his duty to the public, more 
especially so if, by the employment of different 
methods, much more could be accomplished in 
the same time. A farmer may purchase a fer- 
tilizer at a distance of five miles from his home 
at a cost of fifty dollars per ton ; he may con- 
sume time in laying it upon his fields, spreading 
it upon the surface and working it into the soil, 
and will be profited thereby. By going the 
same distance in an opposite direction, he could 
have purchased an article vastly superior to that 



g6 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

which he is content to use ; by the employment 
of the same time and labor, therefore, he might 
have added a much higher degree of productive- 
ness to the soil, and might have reaped three- 
fold the benefits that were realized from the use 
of the inferior fertilizer. Is he a judicious farmer, 
who is content to use a compound, simply be- 
cause it increases the fertility of his soil, though 
at the same cost he might obtain far greater re- 
sults by the use of another ? School authorities 
and teachers, employed in cultivating the public 
mind, have a duty to perform infinitely more 
delicate in its nature and far-reaching in its re- 
sults, than has he who expends his efforts on the 
rude elements of the earth. It requires research 
and deliberation to discover and select, and it 
requires courage to apply that which is best. 
But until they are reasonably assured that the 
results of each school-term are the highest at- 
tainable, by the means at their command, neither 
the board of education, the teacher, the pupils 
nor the great public interested in the success 
of the people's school should cease from efforts 
to lift up, expand and perfect the system. 

STUDY. 

To study the lesson is the next business in 
order. In this the teacher has a twofold duty 
to perform : First, to prepare himself for the 



MANAGEMENT. 97 

recitation ; secondly, to so direct the efforts of 
his pupils in their studies, as will enable them to 
accomplish the greatest amount of work in the 
shortest space of time. It will be of great ad- 
vantage to the school if, at the beginning of the 
term, the teacher will explain, in a general way, 
the nature and object of study. Upon the 
organization of each class more specific direc- 
tions should be given, having special reference 
to the branch of learning about to be taken up 
by the class. In the five minutes after the 
opening of school each day, set apart for mis- 
cellaneous matters, the teacher may frequently 
remind the whole school of his instructions on 
this subject. 

THE OBJECT OF STUDY. 

Study has for its immediate object the acqui- 
sition of knowledge. The act of accumulating 
facts previously unknown is of itself a pure 
source of pleasure, and the consciousness of the 
possession of knowledge gives birth to soul- 
inspiring reflections, among the most delightful 
experienced by mankind. In all of its depart- 
ments Nature has laid up great stores of original 
and independent truths. These are discovered 
and brought forth by human efforts, and by 
human efforts they are arranged in natural 
order and combined under natural laws, in such 

9 G 



98 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

manner as to constitute science. The pleasure 
arising from the discovery and combination of 
these truths in nature,amply repays the labor and 
efforts put forth by the student. 

UTILITY OF KNOWLEDGE. 

Apart from the pure gratification that arises 
from the act of accumulating knowledge, there 
is the idea of usefulness attached to every fact 
that is acquired. A knowledge of the simple 
processes of arithmetic is useful in the ordinary 
business transactions of society. Knowledge of 
the facts of history and of geography enables 
one to read intelligently the news of the day, 
and to discourse upon it understandingly. A 
knowledge of the elementary principles of chem- 
istry, natural philosophy, physical geography, 
botany, mineralogy, and the like, is of practical 
use to the farmer, the doctor of medicine, the 
traveler, the navigator — in short, to a man in 
almost any of the pursuits, whether commercial, 
manufacturing, agricultural or professional — and 
this relation of school-day study to the business 
of after-life should in no sense be ignored or 
under-estimated. It will stand as an incentive 
to study with many, on whom the idea of 
pleasure and discipline would have no effect or 
weight. What to one is a sordid and unworthy 
motive, to another may stand as the end and 



'MANAGEMENT. 99 

aim of his loftiest ambition. The utility of 
knowledge should, therefore, be duly set forth 
for the edification of such as are weak. 

STUDY USEFUL FOR DISCIPLINE. 

Study is useful to discipline the powers of the 
mind. The musician, whose fingers touch with 
rapidity and marvelous accuracy and delicacy 
the keys of the instrument, was once but a 
clumsy beginner. By continued systematic 
practice he has attained a perfection, which 
commands the admiration of all lovers of this 
art. The powers of the mind are in reference 
to their developments not unlike the powers of 
the body. They are perfected by discipline, and 
this discipline is attained through systematic 
and logical mental effort. Pupils must not, 
therefore, be allowed to blunder along as best 
they may in the preparation of their lessons. 
Feebleness of mind is inseparably connected 
with obtuseness of sense. Whatever method of 
training, therefore, sharpens the senses, must in- 
evitably strengthen the mind. One of the first 
efforts, therefore, in the school-room should be 
so directed as to accustom the children to the 
proper exercise of the senses. This under all 
circumstances will prove to be the most effectual 
means of developing the mental powers. From 
early infancy a child acquires knowledge by 



100 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

observation. At first this observation proceeds 
in an undirected, hap-hazard sort of way, without 
system or purpose. It is the duty of the teacher 
to systematize and regulate these exercises of 
the senses. If bungling methods are employed, 
or the pupil is allowed to proceed without 
method, the exercise of his senses will soon be 
embarrassed, limited and altogether arrested ; a 
dull, feeble-minded man or woman will be the 
result. But if, on the other hand, this natural 
propensity to acquire knowledge by observation 
is, by easy process, brought under proper dis- 
cipline, the first great duty of the teacher is 
discharged. 

Precisely here is the occasion and the rea- 
son for introducing the study of the material sci- 
ences into the public schools. The elementary 
facts of the sciences are acquired through the 
senses, and should therefore be presented to the 
pupil at the time these faculties are most active. 
At a later period, when Judgment, which ar- 
ranges, and Reason, which combines, have been 
developed, these facts of science will be ar- 
ranged and combined, and thus philosophy, the 
soul of science, will be evolved. These facts, 
gathered in early years through the operation 
of the senses, and this philosophy, evolved by 
Reason, whereby facts are brought together in 
natural order, constitute science. The work 



MANA GEMENT. I O I 

of observing and combining is study ; if this is 
logically carried forward, the highest discipline 
of all the faculties of the mind will be attained. 
As by discipline the musician is enabled to use 
his physical powers to produce the highest 
effects in art, as the smith, by discipline, is en- 
abled to direct with precision the stroke of his 
hammer, and as the sportsman, by discipline, ac- 
quires the ability to balance with absolute ac- 
curacy his rifle, so the student, by discipline, is 
enabled to bring under perfect control all the 
powers of his mind, to be used promptly, accu- 
rately and efficiently at any instant, and for a 
definite purpose. As playing ball, swinging on 
ropes and vaulting on bars give muscular 
power, but no efficiency, to the musician, the 
mechanic or the artisan, so unguided or mis- 
directed efforts of the intellectual faculties may 
result in the accumulation of facts, may store the 
mind with knowledge without disciplining the 
faculties in such manner as to give efficiency to 
mental action, or ability to logically pursue prin- 
ciples to practical results. It is, therefore, of 
importance that the habits and methods of study 
in the public schools shall be so formed as not 
only to store the mind of the pupil with facts, 
but rather to accustom the mind to work sys- 
tematically with a purpose which from the be- 
ginning seeks an end. By these means, and not 



102 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

otherwise, study will serve the purposes of dis- 
cipline. 

STUDYING A LESSON. 

The subject of study having been determined 
upon, its nature and scope explained to the class 
and the lesson assigned, the immediate work in 
hand for the class, is the preparation of the les- 
son for recitation. The act of studying, com- 
bined with that of reciting, should result in 
making the facts and the principles which con- 
nect them, as set forth in the lesson, the prop- 
erty of the pupil. Studying the lesson is first 
in order. It is assumed that a text-book, with 
all the subjects arranged in logical order and 
expressed in concise and plain language, is 
in the possession of each pupil, and that a por- 
tion of the text has been assigned for study. 
The pupil should read over carefully the whole 
lesson, so as to obtain a general idea of its 
scope. Each point should then be taken up 
and attentively considered. The mind of the 
student should be undividedly fixed upon each 
fact and circumstance in the lesson, and these 
should be, one after the other, thoroughly mas- 
tered, and, finally, all should be connected in 
the mind in their natural order. Thus will be 
generated the power to express, in the pupil's 
own language, the gist of the subject under con- 



MAN A GEMENT. 1 03 

sideration. If the attempt be made to extract 
ire meaning of the lesson by simply reading 
over and re-reading, and endeavoring to con- 
template the whole by a single effort, the result 
will be failure. 

Occasionally pupils are possessed of such 
aptness of comprehension that they acquire 
knowledge with little effort, but the great ma- 
jority must labor systematically and patiently, in 
order thoroughly to comprehend the truths set 
forth in the text. The method, therefore, here 
recommended, is — 

1st. View the whole subject. 

2d. Take up item by item and master each 
distinct and separate fact. 

3d. Grasp the connecting principles, which 
combine these facts, by contemplating them in 
the order in which they are set down in the text- 
book. 

4th. Give expression to what has been learned. 

This done, the pupil is prepared for the reci- 
tation. The subject may then be laid aside, and 
another lesson in another branch of learning 
may be taken up and treated in a similar man- 
ner. 

In no case should a pupil sit down to the 
study of several lessons without having first defi- 
nitely arranged, in what order they shall be tak^ * 
up, and what time shall be devoted to the study 



104 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of each. The same order should be observed 
daily, without variance from a written time-table 
previously prepared and kept convenient for 
reference. 

The student who studies a lesson only enough 
to obtain a general and superficial idea of its 
principles, and then takes up a second and a 
third and treats them in the same way, will 
never acquire definite knowledge on any sub- 
ject, and will grow up into habits of hesitation 
in speech, uncertainty in thought and inefficien- 
cy in action. Thorough comprehension gives 
directness and clearness of expression. Uncer- 
tainty of knowledge gives hesitation and confu- 
sion of expression. A teacher observant of this 
principle will detect, in the utterances of the 
pupils at recitation, whether the subject of the 
lesson is comprehended. 

USES OF RECITATION. 

The recitation exercise serves two purposes : 
ist. It discovers to the teacher whether the 
subject under consideration is comprehended by 
the members of the class. 

2d. It fixes in the mind of the pupil more per- 
manently all the knowledge evolved in the study 
of the text. 



MAN A GEMENT. 1 05 

ON CONDUCTING RECITATIONS. 

A teacher, who is competent for the post he 
occupies, will not permit the recitation exercise 
to be one in which the pupils simply recite what 
they have learned, but he will enlarge on the 
subject by noting collateral facts, and by citing 
applications and uses of the knowledge acquired 
by the class. Let it be ever kept in view, that 
the class-book is but a text-book) the text should 
be suggestive to both teacher and pupil. By 
the use of books of reference and comprehen- 
sive treatises on the subject of the text-book, a 
teacher will be enabled to obtain much interest- 
ing matter relating to the subject of each lesson, 
not found in the concise treatises in the hands 
of the pupils ; from this full store he can draw, 
daily, with eminent advantage to himself and to 
the pupils under his charge. 

What has elsewhere been said may be re- 
peated with emphasis here, that no effort of the 
teacher will conduce so much to good govern- 
ment, to establish confidence and to winning the 
respect of the school and of the whole neighbor- 
hood, as this ability to enlarge upon every theme 
called up in recitation. A teacher, content to 
sit in his chair and hear the recitation of the 
class, without making such intelligent comment 
as will enlarge the store of knowledge and fix 



106 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL., 

it more durably in the minds of the pupils, is 
utterly unfit for his position. This is true of 
teachers in mixed schools, in graded schools, in 
high schools, and in academies, colleges and 
universities. For, whether the recitation be in 
the history of the United States in a country 
school, or whether it be in chemistry at the 
academy, or in Greek verse at the college, a 
teacher, who mechanically and passively listens 
to what pupils have to say, simply correcting 
dates in history and facts in chemistry, or con- 
struction in Greek, is making the very worst 
use of the pupil's time. If he has no collateral, 
corroborative or strengthening matter to pre- 
sent, he lacks the requisite ability to fill the 
position he is occupying. If, on the other hand, 
he is possessed of such matter and fails to bring 
it forward, he is guilty of criminal neglect, and 
should be summarily dismissed from the place 
he so badly fills. 

In the study of the lesson, the chief effort 
rests with the student, but in the recitation the 
onus is upon the teacher. As soon as a pupil 
shall have gone far enough in the recitation to 
satisfy the teacher, that the subject has been 
carefully studied and the matter set forth in the 
text fully mastered, it becomes his duty to en- 
large upon the text. Thus the recitation will 
always be looked forward to by the pupil as an 



MANA GEMENT. 1 0? 

agreeable and profitable exercise. Too often 
now, owing to the prevalence of illy-conceived 
methods, a pupil approaches a recitation with 
hesitation and fear. He receives no benefit ; no 
new facts are brought out, and his knowledge 
is not enlarged ; he is simply puzzled, annoyed 
and vexed by hard questions, invented by stupid 
authors and asked by incompetent teachers. 

The school authorities and the Normal School 
faculties should see that this method is abol- 
ished and the more reasonable one, as ex- 
plained above, substituted. 

FORCIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

In every school many forcible illustrations 
may be improvised by the teacher. In the study 
of botany, plants and vegetables are at hand, 
and may be exhibited to the class for demon- 
stration of facts. In the study of anatomy and 
physiology, bones, muscles, joints and other parts 
of animals slaughtered in the neighborhood may 
be exhibited. For the class in geology, rocks 
from different formations may be found conve- 
nient to almost every schoolhouse. In natural 
philosophy, many simple contrivances with ball, 
string, levers, springs and the like may be con- 
structed by the ingenious teacher. In history, 
many incidents and interesting stories, suggest- 
ed by the text, may be related for the instruction 



IOS ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of the class. Thus, by devices innumerable, an 
active, intelligent teacher will, day after day, 
enlarge upon the text, bringing stores of know- 
ledge to his class, for which he will be repaid an 
hundredfold in the affections of his pupils and 
in the enlarged respect and good-will of the 
patrons of his school. 





CHAPTER VI. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 

NATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 

|HE population of the United States 
comprises English, German, French, 
Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegians, 
Dutch, Irish, Scotch and Welsh peo- 
ple. From the period of the early settlements 
in America to the present, emigrants have been 
received from all of the different nations of the 
world. The nations of Europe have furnished 
very considerable contributions to the popula- 
tions of most of the States. These have brought 
with them their peculiarities of life'and language, 
and these peculiarities have impressed them- 
selves upon the institutions of the United States. 
Frequently public-school authorities provide 
for teaching school in foreign languages. In 
some places, in addition to the English schools, 
there are also established German schools, 
French schools, Swede schools, Dutch schools 



10 



109 



110 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

or Welsh schools. In those places where the 
people of any nation or country have settled in 
close communities, schools in their own lan- 
guages are necessary, but in a country where all 
business, public and private, is transacted in the 
English language, the teaching in the public 
schools should be in that language. 

Families coming from Germany or from 
France, Holland, Sweden or Norway, experi- 
ence great inconvenience in the transaction of 
business in America, and it would seem to be 
exceedingly short-sighted to establish schools so 
as to perpetuate that inconvenience, by trans- 
mitting it to the children, growing up in an Eng- 
lish-speaking country. A much wiser course 
would be to require the children to attend the 
English schools, and to there learn the use of 
the language that is prevalent in the land of 
their adoption. 

When the children of foreign parentage are 
found in the public schools, the teacher has im- 
posed upon him a peculiar task. He must cor- 
rect the faulty articulation of those who have 
been in the habit of speaking a foreign language, 
and bring such pupils to accustom their organs 
of speech to the enunciation of the elementary 
sounds of the English language. This will be 
accomplished by systematic and often-repeated 
exercises. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. Ill 



FOREIGNERS AND ENGLISH ARTICULATION. 

The most successful method known to prac- 
tical teachers, by which to overcome the pecu- 
liarities of children accustomed to speak foreign 
languages, is to drill thoroughly in the element- 
ary sounds. In order to apply this method 
effectually, it will be necessary to study the cor- 
rect use of the organs of speech, and classify the 
elementary sounds with reference to the organs 
employed in giving them utterance. Thus, a 
teacher will be able to show clearly the differ- 
ence between the manner of using these organs 
in a faulty and in a correct enunciation. For 
example, a German boy, in all probability, will 
pronounce the word thing, sing. The difference 
is in the articulation of the first elementary 
sound in the word. It is the difference between 
the sound of th and s. The pupil must be taught 
to understand that, in producing the sound of s, 
he places the tip of his tongue against the roof 
of his mouth, that in uttering the sound of th, he 
places his tongue between his teeth. If, there- 
fore, when he attempts to pronounce the word 
thing, he begins by placing the tip of his tongue 
between his teeth, it will be impossible for him 
to utter it in the s sound, as sing. 

It is also very common for children born of 
foreign parents to confound the sounds repre- 



112 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

sented by w and v. If the pupil distinguishes 
how differently the organs of speech are used 
in the utterance of these sounds, he will have 
no difficulty in giving them correct utterance. 
Thus, in producing the sound of w, the lips pro- 
ject as they do in uttering the sound of oo ; 
whereas, in giving utterance to the sound re- 
presented by v, the upper teeth are brought 
in a gentle pressure upon the lower lip ; with 
the lip and teeth thus brought together it is 
impossible to produce the sound represented 
by w. 

This subject will be treated of more at length 
in connection with the instructions in the ele- 
mentary sounds. The object of introducing so 
much of it here is to enforce the statement that, 
by teaching the proper use of the organs of 
speech in the enunciation of sounds used in the 
English language, the child embarrassed by 
faulty pronunciation will be enabled most speed- 
ily to overcome the force of habit. This will re- 
quire perseverance on the part of both teacher 
and pupil, but the effect will soon be observed, 
and the final result will be, that those children 
who, because of the habits of childhood, were 
compelled to make special efforts to drill in the 
elementary sounds, will grow up to be more 
perfect in their articulation and pronunciation 
of the language, than those who were, at the be- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. II3 

ginning, esteemed their more fortunate asso- 
ciates. 

ELOCUTION. 

Elocution, as here applied, includes the learn- 
ing of the Alphabet, Spelling, Reading and Dec- 
lamation. It is considered as first among the 
branches of learning to be taught in the public 
schools, chiefly for the reason, that it is always 
first in order, and will doubtless remain so, 
amoncr those studies that are tauQ-ht from books. 
The subdivisions will be taken up in the order 
named. 

METHODS OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. 

Two methods for teaching the alphabet are in 
general use. One is called the Letter Method 
and the other the Word Method. 

The Letter Method is that in which the twenty- 
six letters of the alphabet are taught separately, 
one after the other. 

The Word Method is that in which pupils are 
first taught to recognize and pronounce words ; 
these, by analysis, are separated into their ele- 
ments, and these elements being letters, a child 
is taught to distinguish them from each other, 
and to name them. 

In the Letter Method, the alphabet may be 
taught by means of a number of devices. 

1st. Teaching the Alphabet from a Book, — In 

10* H 



114 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

times past it was almost a universal practice to 
teach the Alphabet to children singly. A child 
was called up with a primer or A-B-C book in 
hand, and the teacher, pointing to the letters be- 
ginning at a and ending with z, would name the 
letter and require the child to repeat it after him ; 
or, beginning at the letter z, the Alphabet was 
" said backward " to a. As the child progressed in 
these exercises, the teacher would point to some 
one letter in the Alphabet and require the child 
to name it; or, varying the exercises, a child 
would be required to point to some letter which 
the teacher named, as o, x, g, w. In some 
schools this practice still obtains. It is unques- 
tionably the most severe and uninteresting to 
the child of all the methods yet devised. It 
requires the teacher to give his whole attention 
to each child separately. There can be no clas- 
sification, and, consequently, no rivalry, because 
there is no class. All the advantages of classi- 
fication are lost. There can be no interest ex- 
cited in the minds of the pupils. The exercise 
is arbitrary, and even after the child shall have 
learned to name the twenty-six letters of the 
English alphabet, it will generally be so utterly 
ignorant of the use of this learning that it is 
very likely to question "whether it is worth 
while to endure so much in order to learn so 
little." 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 115 

It is possible to so vary the exercises as to 
greatly improve on the system of saying the A 
B C forward and backward, as was formerly the 
general practice. The successful teacher will, 
by questions and little combinations, greatly 
facilitate the labors of the child in its efforts to 
memorize these twenty-six arbitrary characters. 
It will be wiser, however, to abandon this method 
altogether, and to adopt one that is more prac- 
tical in its application and fruitful in its results. 

2d. Teaching the Alphabet from Charts. — A 
series of Charts, varying in the size of the letters 
printed on them and in the simplicity of combi- 
nations, may be used with great advantage in 
teaching the Alphabet. Chart No. i should 
contain the twenty-six letters of the Alphabet 
printed in large plain type. The margins of 
this Chart should be occupied by smaller letters, 
promiscuously arranged, so that several impres- 
sions of each letter mieht be found on the Chart. 
The teacher may now be supposed to have his 
A-B-C class before him for recitation. The 
Chart is so suspended as to be easily seen by 
each member of the class. He points to some 
one of the large letters and pronounces its name. 
At first, one of the plain, distinct letters, as O, 
A or I, should be selected. "This is A;" let 
the class repeat the name of the letter after the 
teacher. If the teacher will draw in chalk on 



Il6 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the blackboard the letter A, and describe its 
parts so as to attract the attention of the pupils 
to its construction, both the form and the name 
of the letter will be more rapidly and durably 
impressed upon the mind. After this form has 
been made familiar, the teacher should ask of 
the class, " Can you find another A on the Chart?" 
Some of the pupils will find one, some two and 
others three or four, and thus rivalry is at once 
excited, and the attention of the whole class 
directed to the Chart. 

The use of the blackboard in connection 
with the Chart will increase the interest in and 
the force of the instruction given. As the class 
progresses the teacher may leave the letter 
drawn on the blackboard half finished and re- 
quire the pupils to complete it, or he may draw 
a faulty letter and require the pupils to state 
the difference between it and the correct form 
on the Chart. 

Chart No. 2 should contain simple combina- 
tions of the letters of the Alphabet, in such 
manner as to spell the names of familiar objects, 

as AX, OX, CAT, RAT, DOG, COW, FORK, HORSE. The 

number of these may be increased by the use 
of the blackboard. The class can be exercised 
in naming the letters found in these combina- 
tions, and in pronouncing the words thus 
formed. A familiar talk respecting the objects 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 117 

represented by these words will interest the 
pupils in the spelling of their names. On this 
Chart there must also be such combinations as 
will aid the pupil in learning readily, that differ- 
ent sounds are represented by the same letter. 
Thus, a in the word cat has one sound, and in 
the word bale it has another sound; o in the word 
ox has one sound, and in the word old it has 
another sound ; that i has one sound in bite, and 
another in lip. These, it is true, are, to the 
child, arbitrary distinctions, but they will soon 
be learned by force of habit and retained upon 
the very impressible memory of childhood. 

Chart No. 3 can be printed in smaller type, 
and may contain longer words. These should 
be arraneed with reference to the sound of the 
vowels used. 

Chart No. 4 should be arranged for drill on 
the elementary sounds of both vowels and con- 
sonants. This chart may be used with profit 
throughout the whole course of elocutionary 
training in the school, from the A-B-C class to 
the classes in declamation and composition. 
Teachers possessing different degrees of skill 
and genius for teaching, will vary the exercises 
on these Charts in almost innumerable ways, 
with profit to their classes. The direction here 
is simply, that no teacher should be content to 
hear the same lessons repeatedly, without varia- 



II 8 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

tion ; he should exercise his ingenuity to vary 
the instruction so as to give new interest and 
to create expectation for every recitation. 

TEACHING THE ALPHABET WITH LETTER BLOCKS. 

The apparatus for teaching the Alphabet from 
blocks consists of twenty-six, or more blocks 
containing letters painted or pasted on them 
of such size as to be easily distinguished. Each 
pupil should possess a set of these blocks, and 
each set of blocks should contain the complete 
Alphabet, with duplicates of the vowels. In 
order to conduct a recitation with blocks, the 
class should be arranged around a table of con- 
venient height for the children when standing. 
The pupils should place their blocks before 
them on the table, and the teacher, having a 
set for his own use, may take a block in his 
hand and hold it in a position that all the class 
can see it ; he will give the name of the letter 
on it, and then require the pupils to find the 
same letter in their respective sets. Thus seve- 
ral of the leading letters will be made familiar 
in form and name. The teacher may ask a 
pupil to find one of these letters, as O; another 
may find A; another X; another T; and so on. 
As a little more progress is made by repeating 
these exercises, which should be duly varied 
every day, these letters can be combined in 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. II9 

words containing two or three letters each. 
Thus the teacher may take in his hand the three 
letters, B, O, Y, or he may draw these three 
letters on the blackboard and then require each 
member of the class to select them from the 
blocks. That these three letters combined spell 
the word boy should be fully explained, and so 
enforced that the children will understand it. 
Other similar combinations may be formed, and 
thus the children, as it were in a game of play, 
will, with eagerness and delight, shuffle their 
blocks into words that will become familiar. 

If the teacher will write on the blackboard 
the names of animals or other familiar objects, 
the pupils will rapidly select from their blocks 
letters corresponding to those on the black- 
board, and will thus construct words. In like 
manner, by the use of blocks, children may be 
taught to count and to distinguish the forms of 
numerals. 

TEACHING THE ALPHABET ON SLATE AND BLACK- 
BOARD. 

Another, and in some respects the most suc- 
cessful, method of teaching the Alphabet, is to 
require every child to have a small slate and pen- 
cil. Pupils will, in an incredibly short time, ac- 
quire the ability to draw the letters of the Alpha- 
bet, and to print words. No other exercise will so 



120 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

distinctly and durably fix in the mind the form of 
the letters as that of drawing them. The letter 
to be drawn by the children, in their seats, should 
be printed upon the blackboard by the teacher, 
or, what is better, the teacher should have a set 
of cards, each having on it a large letter; one of 
these can be so placed that all the children en- 
gaged in the exercise can distinctly see it. The 
letters most simple in form, as I, H, A, X, O, 
should be taken up first. Combinations of the 
simple letters can be made, and words spelled 
on the slates by the children, before the forma- 
tion of letters more complicated in form is 
undertaken. The slate and pencil may be used, 
not only to teach the Alphabet, but also to teach 
drawing, and to relieve in a pleasant manner the 
somewhat irksome duties of a child in school, 
who, too often, is required to sit in quiet idleness 
for an hour or more, without rest or change, and 
is then called up for a hvQ minutes' recitation to 
say the ABC. 

The time was when children, who sketched 
horses, articles of school-furniture, doll-babies, 
chairs and animals on their slates, were punished 
for misconduct. Such barbarism has been ban- 
ished from all properly-conducted schools, and 
the propensities of childhood are taken advan- 
tage of, both for matters of discipline in refer- 
ence to order and in teaching the primary les- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 121 

sons in school. This is a much more reason- 
able course, and should be everywhere adopted. 
Children with slates and pencils in their posses • 
sion are rarely idle or mischievous if the teacher, 
by sketches on the blackboard, or by charts con- 
taining" the letters of the alphabet and simple 
lessons in drawing, will furnish exercise for the 
ingenuity, and opportunity for the amusement 
of the little ones, who may thus be educated 
without violence. 

Vastly better than a rigid adherence to any 
one of these methods is such a combination of 
all of them as will give variety and interest even 
to the A-B-C class. Books, charts, blocks, 
slates and the blackboard should all be used to 
amuse and interest the children, for that learn- 
ing, the acquisition of which is made attractive 
by numerous pleasant devices, is always most 
profitable to the young. 

THE WORD METHOD. 

By observation children become familiar with 
numerous objects, and by imitation they acquire 
a knowledge of the names of these objects. 
To a very considerable extent children acquire 
the use of language by imitation. The word 
method of teaching the alphabet is based upon 
this circumstance. Familiar objects, or pictures 
of such objects, are placed before the child, and 
11 



122 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the name drawn upon the blackboard, or printed 
on a chart or in a book, is pointed out. Thus 
the word method may be taught by the use of 
the blackboard, from charts or from books. 

TEACHING THE ALPHABET FROM THE BLACKBOARD. 

In using the blackboard for giving instruction 
to a class in the Alphabet by the Word Method, 
the teacher takes in his hand a familiar object, 
as a hat. He prints in plain letters the name 
of the object on the blackboard, and the children 
are taught to associate that word with the ob- 
ject. The word is composed of three parts ; 
these parts the teacher may write separately 
upon the board. The first of these elements 
the teacher tells the class is named h, the second 
is named a, and the third is named t — that is, 
one h, one a and one t, placed in the order in 
which they are written on the board, make the 
word which is pronounced hat. This fact, by 
the aid of numerous illustrations, must be made 
clear to the class. 

The teacher may take a small boy from the 
class and place him on the platform by the 
blackboard, and write on the board, boy. He 
says to the class, " This word on the blackboard 
is boy." The class is made to associate the 
word and the object with each other. The word 
is then decomposed into its letters, and the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 23 

names of the letters are given and repeated un- 
til they will readily be remembered by the class. 
In like manner a top, a ball, a kite, a book and 
other objects may be associated with the words 
that stand for them, and the several words may 
be separated into their elements, and the names 
of the letters may be learned by the class. The 
object may be removed and the words remain 
on the board. The class should then be re- 
quired to pronounce the words, and also to 
name the letters that compose them. These 
exercises may be extended and varied at the 
will of the teacher as necessity may require. 

TEACHING THE ALPHABET BY THE USE OF CHARTS. 

The teacher is supposed to be provided with 
several Charts. 

Chart No. i should contain pictures of the 
most familiar animals, and other objects with 
short names, such as Cat, Dog, Hen, Robin, 
Horse, Pig, Cow, Hat, Chain, Top, Kite, and 
such other illustrations as the size of the Chart 
will admit of. The pictures should be suffi- 
ciently large and distinct to be readily distin- 
guished, and the name of each should be 
printed beneath it in large plain letters. The 
children in the A-B-C class must now be in- 
structed to associate these pictures and these 
names with the animals, or objects they repre- 



124 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

sent. They must be taught that both picture 
and word represent the same thing. The words 
may then be separated and each letter considered 
by itself, and the name of each committed to 
memory. The children will soon learn that the 
word and the picture, CAT, represent a familiar 
animal, and that the word is composed of C, A, 
T. On the margin of this card the words should 
be printed in columns, apart from the pictures, 
and the children should be required to select 
the word belonging to each picture, to pro- 
nounce it and to name the letters that com- 
pose it. 

Chart No. 2 should be an advance on No. 1 — 
that is, animals and objects having longer names 
may be placed on it. In all other respects it is 
the same as No. 1, and the manner of using it 
is also the same. 

Chart No. 3 may introduce words not repre- 
senting animals, as verbs, adjectives, preposi- 
tions and words that may be used in construct- 
ing short sentences. Pictures may be drawn to 
represent the idea set forth in the sentence, as, 
The boy has a kite. Boys play ball. Girls 
jump the rope. Cows eat grass. This idea 
may be enlarged upon by the use of the black- 
board. 

Chart No. 4 should introduce the distinction 
in the elementary sounds represented by the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 25 

letters, and should be so constructed as to be 
convenient for drilling the class in the elements 
in a manner similar to that described under the 
Letter Method of teaching the Alphabet from 
charts. 

TEACHING THE ALPHABET FROM BOOKS. 

To teach the Alphabet in the Word Method 
from books, each member of the class should 
possess an illustrated primer, in which there are 
numerous pictures of animals and familiar 
objects, similar to those described on Charts 
Nos. 1 and 2. All who are beginning to learn 
the Alphabet should be arranged in a class and 
brought before the teacher at the same time. 
Some picture should be selected for the lesson, 
and the word and the picture should be associ- 
ated, so that the children will understand that 
both represent the same thing, and that in 
naming the picture they are pronouncing the 
word. If the picture is that of an OX, let 
the idea be enforced that the picture and the 
little word of two letters represent the animal. 
The word may be drawn on the blackboard, 
and the children will recognize it there, as the 
same as that found in the book. So with the 
names of other objects pictured in the primer; 
they should be transferred to the blackboard by 
the teacher, so that the children may become 
11* 



126 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

accustomed to recognize the name apart from 
the picture. 

The teacher may assign one or more of the 
pictures in the book for a lesson, and instruct 
the children to print the name on the slate, and 
if they will also draw the picture of the object, 
or animal, on the slate, it is still better. Indeed, 
no more agreeable or profitable exercise could 
be devised for the period of Alphabet studying, 
than that of transferring to the slate the pictures 
that are found in the child's primer. 

SLATES FOR CHILDREN. 

Whatever method may be adopted, and what- 
ever the mode of procedure under the method, 
the use of the slate, by the children studying the 
Alphabet, is insisted upon as indispensable to 
good order in school and rapid progress in acquir- 
ing a knowledge of the forms, names, sounds and 
uses of the letters of the Alphabet. By numer- 
ous simple lessons from the blackboard, from 
charts or from books, the teacher may find busi- 
ness for the little fingers, amusement for the lit- 
tle brains and pleasure for the little hearts, that 
would otherwise be in mischief, idleness or pain. 
Let it, therefore, be set down as one of the indis- 
pensable requisites in an infant class, that every 
member shall possess a slate and pencil, and in 
the use of these give the largest liberty. That 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 27 

teacher, who so combines parts of all these meth- 
ods and devices, and adapts them to the neces- 
sities of the cases before him, will be most suc- 
cessful. 

ORTHOGRAPHY. 

There are two general methods of teaching 
spelling. These arise from the nature of the 
circumstances presented, and the object to be 
attained. First, there is given the form of words, 
and from these the pupil is required to obtain 
the pronunciation, or, secondly, the pronunciation 
may be given and the pupil required to produce 
the form. 

SPELLING FROM SIGHT. 

The first method here considered is that in 
which the pupil analyses the word into its ele- 
mentary sounds for purposes of pronunciation. 
This is the usual method pursued in the schools. 
The primer, the spelling-book, the reader and 
charts supply lists of words. The pronunciation 
of these is to be learned by naming the letters 
composing each syllable, pronouncing the sylla- 
ble, and then uniting the sounds of the syllables 
into the whole word. Where this method is 
pursued, pupils should be required to spell the 
words by first naming the letters, and after that 
to spell them by the elementary sounds. A free 



128 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

use of sound-spelling possesses a double advan- 
tage: it makes the pupil familiar with the sounds 
represented by the letters, and it trains the 
organs of speech to give a clear and distinct 
utterance of each sound. Children who are 
thoroughly drilled in this manner have a more 
distinct articulation, a clearer pronunciation and 
read with more ease, fluency and elegance, than 
those who have not been thus drilled. The old 
practice of saying "spelling-lessons" from a 
spelling-book possesses but little advantage ; it 
is far better to exercise the children to spell the 
words in their reading-lessons, carrying them at 
once from the Alphabet to reading. A child 
should not be permitted to attempt to read a 
sentence until it is able to pronounce every 
word in the sentence distinctly and promptly. 
Though the English language is not a phonetic 
language, in the sense that there is a printed 
character to represent every sound, neverthe- 
less, the spelling of words and the pronouncing 
of syllables apart from words, assists the learner 
in arriving at a correct pronunciation of the 
word. Memory and the force of habit will en- 
able pupils to pronounce correctly many words, 
that they have not before seen or heard. The 
ability to separate words into syllables with 
facility is of practical use in writing and print- 
ing, and is knowledge, therefore, worth obtain- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 29 

ing. The spelling of simple words used in the 
literature of the first and second readers may 
be successfully taught by this method — that is, 
by rising from the sound of the elements to the 
pronunciation of the word. 

The practice of requiring pupils to close their 
books and spell the words as pronounced by the 
teacher is, with children, more an act of memory 
than an operation of analysis. If a strange word 
is pronounced, that the children have not before 
seen, they will in all probability fail to spell it, 
unless it is so analogous to what is familiar, that 
they may readily guess the unknown by its sim- 
ilarity to the known. As soon as pupils are 
able to write with pencil or pen, this method of 
spelling should be abandoned. 

SPELLING FROM PERCEPTION. 

The second method of teaching spelling is 
here termed spelling from perception. A word 
is presented to the mind, either through the 
sense of hearing, or it is called up in a train of 
thought. The mind perceives the word, and 
this word is to be transferred into a written or 
printed form ; by far the best practice, because 
it is logical, is to spell in writing. 

From Dictation. — A profitable exercise in 
spelling is as follows: The class is arranged 
before the teacher, who reads from a book a 

1 



130 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

few sentences, which each member of the class 
is required to write upon a slate, or, what is still 
better, upon paper, conveniently arranged for 
this purpose. After a sufficient number of 
words or sentences for the lesson shall have 
been written, the teacher may require some 
member of the class to spell the words in the 
first sentence ; all who do not aoree with the 
spelling of this pupil may signify it by raising 
a finger, and the teacher may require those, who 
dissent from the spelling, to spell the word as 
they have written it on the slate or paper. 
Other pupils may be required to read other 
sentences until the whole lesson has been gone 
over and corrected. 

This exercise may be varied by taking the 
slips of paper upon which the members of the 
class have written and exchanging them, so 
that no pupil shall have in his hand his own 
writing; each may be required to state, after 
time has been given for inspection, whether all 
the words on the slip of paper in his hand are 
spelled correctly, and if any are incorrectly 
spelled, the pupil, who has detected the error, 
should be required to point it out and correct 
it. This exercise is similar to that afforded in 
the practice of proof-reading ; here the reader 
is required to see that all words are correctly 
spelled. It also accustoms the pupils to detect, 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 131 

by sight, inaccuracies in spelling, and this is a 
valuable acquisition. It also gives the members 
of the class facility in writing ; they will learn 
to write much more rapidly, in exercises like 
this, than they would in lessons of penmanship 
written out upon their desks. Spelling is rarely 
called into use orally, but it is of daily use, in 
writing, to vast numbers of those who are edu- 
cated in the public schools. It is the experience 
of those who were apt spellers in school, and 
who stood at the head of spelling classes, and 
who were able in " spelling matches " to " spell 
down " all opponents, that this boasted attain- 
ment of school-day life was of little use in the 
active duties of later years. Spelling, to be 
taught practically, therefore, must be taught by 
the use of pencil and pen, and in that manner 
it becomes a daily exercise in almost every 
branch of learning. Exercises in arithmetic, in 
geography, in botany, in geology, in physiology, 
and especially in grammar and composition, are 
the very best drills in spelling, provided the 
teacher chooses to make them such. The 
knowledge of the correct use of capital letters 
and marks of punctuation is, by this method, 
acquired by practice, and will become fixed by 
force of habit long before the rules governing 
their uses are acquired from books. 

Exercises in spelling, therefore, are reduced 



132 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

to these uses : First, for purposes of drilling in 
the elementary sounds, and this should be con- 
tinued throughout the study of elocution from 
the A-B-C class to the class in declamation ; 
second, spelling for the purposes of business, 
which consists in writing words, should be 
taught by writing words, and these two methods 
may be varied so as to secure interest and 
efficiency. 

GENERAL EXERCISES IN SPELLING. 

Defective orthography is a matter of almost 
insuperable embarrassment to men and women, 
who are unable to spell the words of their lan- 
guage in ordinary use, and those, who do not 
learn to spell correctly in the public schools, 
rarely attain that accomplishment in after-life. 
Though one method may be better than another, 
no teacher should consider time as wasted, that 
is given to spelling exercises in almost any form. 
The whole school might be pleasantly enter- 
tained for a few minutes, frequently, by exercises 
in spelling ; the more advanced pupils might be 
required to spell orally, or to write on their 
slates words of unusual orthography. The mis- 
takes of some would make a lasting impression, 
so that they would be avoided by all in future. 
The younger pupils should be exercised in 
easier words, and even the children might print 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 33 

on their little slates a few simple words ; the 
more advanced pupils should not be allowed to 
encroach upon the grounds of the little ones, or 
to criticise them too severely if they spell incor- 
rectly. For purposes of spelling, the school 
might be divided into grand divisions ; the divis- 
ion required to spell certain words could be an- 
nounced before the words are given, and in this 
manner three or four words might be pro- 
nounced rapidly, and whilst the larger pupils 
were writing these, other words could be given 
to the smaller ones. Thus the teacher could 
pass from one division to another and pronounce 
words rapidly, so that in a few minutes the 
whole school would be at work and transfer 
them to their slates. 

Another exercise could be introduced by con- 
veniently dividing the school, as by placing 
those on one side of the main aisle against those 
on the other side, or the girls in opposition to 
the boys, so as to test the relative skill of the 
two divisions, and see which side would spell 
the largest proportion of a given number of 
words. This exercise could be conducted by 
requiring the pupils to write the words or to 
spell them orally. If, as is very often the case, 
a spirit of dullness settles down upon the 
school, so that neither pupils nor teacher know 
what to do with themselves, a pleasant relief 
12 



134 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

may be introduced by a drill on the elementary 
sounds. Let the teacher write on the black- 
board a few simple words, which the school may 
spell by sound in concert, the teacher lead- 
ing and pointing to the letter that represents 
the sound to be given. This is a drill in which 
all can join, from the child studying the ABC 
to the most advanced classes, and all will be 
profited thereby. The teacher who varies these 
exercises so as to make them agreeable, and 
who succeeds in making of the boys and girls 
in his school correct spellers, will always be re- 
membered with gratitude and pleasure by those 
who have enjoyed the advantages of his in- 
struction. 

PRONUNCIATION ARTICULATION. 

A correct pronunciation is even of more con- 
sequence than a correct orthography. Men 
talk more than they write, and therefore errors 
in pronunciation exhibit themselves more fre- 
quently than errors in orthography. It is im- 
possible to converse in an edifying manner or 
to read well with habits of faulty pronunciation. 
To pronounce well requires the ability to articu- 
late distinctly every element, and to utter plainly 
every syllable in a word. Distinct articulation 
requires a knowledge of the elementary sounds 
and the habit of giving to each a full and free 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 135 

utterance, and also of giving a distinct utterance 
to every syllable in 'a word. Pupils who are 
just passing from the learning of the Alphabet 
are usually taught pronunciation by spelling. 
The method pursued is to name the letters, pro- 
nounce the syllables and then pronounce the 
whole word. This is mainly for the purpose of 
enabling the pupil to determine what the word 
is. If, from the beginning, a distinct utterance 
of the sounds which the letters represent is re- 
quired, there will be no difficulty as the pupil 
progresses in the study of elocution to maintain 
a correct pronunciation. In the utterance of 
the simplest and shortest words, therefore, the 
pupil must be required to produce every sound 
that enters into the composition of the word. 
If the teacher exercises due vigilance to detect 
and is prompt in calling attention to every error, 
there will be very little difficulty in leading his 
pupils into habits of correct pronunciation. This 
will lead to elegance in conversation and in 
reading. Defective pronunciation arises more 
from carelessness in articulation than from want 
of knowledge. The pupil knows perfectly well 
how to pronounce the words singing, judgment, 
education, yet by force of habit pronounces them 
as if written singin, judgemunt, edecation. The 
dropping of the h after the w in which, what, 
wheat and similar words is a very common de- 



I36 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

feet, and this is done by force of habit. The 
work for the teacher, therefore, is to change 
habit, so that the same power which persist- 
ently enforces error may be made to enforce 
propriety. The pupil should be required to re- 
peat frequently and rapidly, in a clear and dis- 
tinct articulation, the words that he is in the 
habit of pronouncing defectively. All persons 
who are in the habit of carelessly and indistinct- 
ly pronouncing words may correct that habit 
by the power of repetition ; this may be done 
at all hours in the day when the mind is not 
actively occupied in special duties, in walking to 
and from school, whilst retiring in the evening 
and rising in the morning; if the organs of 
speech are exercised in a mere whisper in the 
articulation of words that require correction in 
pronunciation, the defects will speedily disap- 
pear. 

It is of little importance at what age or at 
what stage of progress the teacher receives pu- 
pils. If they have, by daily practice, either in 
the home-circle or under careless teaching in 
the public schools, acquired habits of defective 
pronunciation, it is his first duty to begin a prac- 
tical system of training to correct the errors that 
his pupils have fallen into. What was said on 
the importance of a correct spelling is doubly 
emphasized on the subject of pronunciation. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 37 

The reward of the teacher will be immediate, for 
the most bungling and heavy-tongued among 
the pupils in the public school may, under a ju- 
dicious system of training in articulation, be 
brought to a free use of his organs of speech in 
pronouncing the words of the English language. 
In every school there will be found many pu- 
pils who have never been drilled in spelling by 
sound, who have never been required to exercise 
their organs of speech in distinct articulation, 
and to these the teacher should give the most 
careful attention, as many of them may be ad- 
vanced in the course of studies, and will soon 
leave the public schools. It may be the last 
opportunity that such pupils will have for receiv- 
ing proper instruction, that will enable them to 
correct these defects, which, if neglected in 
school, will follow them through life, causing 
them mortification in society, and standing as a 
barrier between them and cultivated people. 
Strangers, when first introduced to us, if they 
are accustomed to speak the same language 
that we do, are immediately judged from outward 
appearances. A defective pronunciation at once 
suggests ignorance and vulgarity. Frequently 
persons who are reasonably well educated and 
refined in manner have, through the bungling 
of schoolmasters, been permitted to grow up in 
habits of carelessness in articulation that ad- 
12* 



138 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

here to them through life, and, therefore, these 
may often be erroneously classified, and that is 
an additional misfortune. 

An arrangement of the letters of the Alpha- 
bet, which singly or in combinations represent 
the elementary sounds, convenient for drilling 
classes and schools, may be found on charts, in 
spelling-books and in readers very generally 
used in the public schools. The utterance of 
the vowel sounds is more readily acquired than 
the utterance of the sounds represented by those 
consonants usually denominated sub-vocak, or 
sub-vowels, or sub-tonics — that is, sounds be- 
tween an open utterance, as in the case of 
vowel sounds, and a mere whisper, or breathing, 
as in the aspirates. A class may be drilled in 
the sub- vowel sounds somewhat in the following 
manner, viz. : Write on the blackboard the word 
bat; require the class to pronounce it in concert, 
every pupil giving a full and complete utterance; 
remove the letter /, and require the class to pro- 
nounce the remaining part of the word, ba ; re- 
move the letter a, and require the class to give 
the sound represented by the letter b. This 
must be given with the lips closely pressed to- 
gether, and it will require repeated efforts from 
all the members of the class to give a full utter- 
ance to this sound ; yet it is precisely here that 
the chief distinction lies between a full, round, 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 39 

distinct pronunciation and a smothered, com- 
pressed and defective pronunciation. This or- 
der may be reversed. Write the word again on 
the board, bat; require the class to pronounce 
it ; remove the letter 6, and require the class to 
pronounce the remaining at; remove the letter 
a, and require the class to give the sound of the 
letter t. The class is now prepared to spell the 
word — not by naming the letters as is the usual 
mode, but by giving utterance to the elementary 
sounds. Other words, as dog, jug, bad, keg, lip, 
and the like, may be treated in the same manner 
as suggested above. The whole school should 
frequently be required to engage in an exercise 
like this, and all the pupils will derive great 
profit therefrom. 

THE VOCAL ORGANS. 

The vocal organs are those by which all 
sounds of the human voice are produced. They 
are the lungs, trachea, larynx, glottis and 
epiglottis. 

The organs of articulation are those by which 
the sounds of the human voice are modified. 
They are the lips, teeth, tongue and palate. 

A simple vowel is a sound produced without 
changing the position of the organs of articula- 
tion during the emission of breath. 

A compound vowel is a sound produced by 



140 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

changing the position of the organs of articula- 
tion during the emission of breath. 

A teacher may illustrate the force of these 
definitions by uttering the sound of a in fate, 
which is a simple vowel, and the sound of i in 
fine, which is a compound vowel. Observe that 
while giving the a sound there is no motion of 
the organs of articulation, but in giving the i 
sound there is motion in these organs. 

USING THE ORGANS OF ARTICULATION. 

A Consonant is either a mere breathing or a 
sound interrupted by the organs of articulation. 

The manner of using the organs of articula- 
tion gives rise to four divisions of consonants. 

Consonants are labials, labio-dentals, lingua- 
dentals and lingua-gutturals. 

Labials are articulations of the lips. They 
are represented by p, b and m. 

Labio-dentals are articulations of the lower 
lip and the upper teeth. They are represented 
by/* and v. 

Lingua- dentals are articulations of the tongue 
and teeth, or gums. They are represented by 
/, d, c/i, /, s y 2, shy zh y tk, /, n and r. 

Lingua-gutturals are articulations produced 
with the tongue rolled back against the palate. 
They are represented by k, g and ng. 

Consonants may also be divided into sub- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 



141 



vocals and aspirates. A sub-vocal is a vocal 
sound suppressed by the organs of articulation. 
An aspirate is a whispering sound without 
vocality. 



T2EBLE OF ELEMENTS. 

The following is a simple form for a table of 
elementary sounds, which can be written upon 
a blackboard, or drawn upon a chart convenient 
for reference. It may also be used for concert 
exercises, in which the whole school may en- 
gage, or in class recitations. 

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS REPRESENTED BY LETTERS OF 
THE ALPHABET. 







VOWELS. 






a, 


ale, a. 


e, ell, e. 


0, 


ox, 0. 


a, 


arm, a. 


i, ice, 1. 


u, 


use, u, 


a, 


all, a. 


i, it, i. 


u, 


up, u. 


a, 


at, a. 


0, ode, 0. 


u, 


full, u. 


e, 


eke, e. 


0, do, 6. 
SUB-VOCALS. 


ou, 


out, ou 


b, 


bid. 


n, nun. 


* s, 


as. 


d, 


deed. 


r, rear. 


Zi 


zest. 


g» 


gay. 


v, valve. 


z, 


azure. 


J. 


judge. 


w, woe. 


ng. 


song. 


I. 


lull. 


y, yell. 


th, 


that. 


m, 


mum. 


ASPIRATES. 






P. 


POP- 


s, siss. 


th, 


thin. 


k, 


kick. 


sh, ship. 


h, 


hat. 


ch, 


church. 


t, tat. 


wh 


when. 


f, 


fife. 









142 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 



COGNATES. 

When two sounds can be produced without 
changing the position of the organs of articula- 
tion, they are called cognate sounds. Thus the 
sounds represented by p and b are cognates, 
also by t and ^,/and v, k and g, ch and/, s and 
z, sh and zh> th and ih. 

The following suggestions will serve to guide 
the efforts of the teacher to overcome faulty and 
to establish correct articulation : 

P and B. — The sound represented by p is 
formed by pressing the lips together before or 
after a vowel sound ; the sound represented by 
b is produced by holding the lips in the same 
position and adding a sub-vocal utterance, so as 
not to emit breath through the nostrils . 

T and d. — The sound represented by / is 
formed by pressing the tongue against the gums 
of the upper teeth ; the sound represented by 
d is formed by holding the organs of articula- 
tion in the same position and uttering a sub- 
vocal sound. To complete the / sound it is 
necessary to drop the end of the tongue back 
from the teeth, but the d sound is completed 
with the organs in the position first assumed. 

F and v. — The sound represented by f is 
formed by pressing the upper teeth gently upon 
the lower lip and emitting the breath ; the sound 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 43 

represented by v is formed by holding the organs 
of articulation in the same position and uttering 
a sub-vocal sound. 

K and g. — The sound represented by k is 
formed by pressing the middle part of the tongue 
firmly against the upper and back part of the 
palate ; the sound represented by^ is formed by 
keeping the organs of articulation in the same 
position and uttering a sub-vocal sound. 

Ch and j. — The sound represented by ch is 
formed by pressing the tongue against the gums 
of the upper teeth and emitting the breath by 
slightly dropping the tongue ; the sound repre- 
sented by j is formed by holding the organs in 
this position and uttering a sub-vocal sound. 

•S and z. — kS sometimes represents an aspirate 
and sometimes a sub-vocal sound ; the latter is 
the same as that represented by z. The aspi- 
rate sound of s is formed by placing the tongue 
against the gums of the upper teeth so as to 
emit the breath over the tip of the tongue ; the 
sound represented by z is formed by holding 
the organs of articulation in the same position 
and uttering a sub-vocal sound. 

Sh and zh. — The sound represented by sh is 
formed by placing the sides of the tongue 
against the upper teeth and dropping the end 
of the tongue so as to nearly touch the gums of 
the lower teeth, and emitting the breath through 



144 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the aperture thus formed ; the sound repre- 
sented by zh is formed by holding the organs 
of articulation in this position and uttering a 
sub-vocal sound. 

Th and th. — The aspirate sound represented 
by th is formed by placing the tip of the tongue 
between the teeth and emitting the breath ; the 
sub-vocal sound represented by th is formed by 
holding the organs in this position and giving a 
sub-vocal utterance. 

These distinctions should be marked by teach- 
ers, and the pupils should be required to prac- 
tice them until they are familiar. Defective or 
faulty pronunciations arise from a misplacing 
of the organs ; the most effectual method, there- 
fore, of correcting them, is by directing pupils 
in what position the organs of articulation must 
be placed in order to produce correct utter- 
ances. Errors most frequently occur in the use 
of cognate sounds which are interchanged, the 
one being substituted for the other by foreigners 
attempting to speak English. These defects 
will be removed by drilling in the cognate 
sounds as here indicated. 




CHAPTER VII. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 

READING. 

ETHODS of teaching reading are mod- 
ified by the capacity of the pupils. 
Those passing from the spelling and 
pronouncing of words to reading, and 
until they are able to commit to memory and 
comprehend the simple rules of elocution, must 
be instructed orally. This is called the First 
stage. 

The activity of Sense and Memory in child- 
hood makes of children quick imitators. They, 
with little effort, almost exactly reproduce what- 
ever impresses them forcibly, either in action or 
in speech. By the cultivation of this power they 
soon acquire skill in reading, and are thus pre- 
pared to enter upon the Second stage of learn- 
ing to read. They may thus learn and observe 
certain simple and practical rules of pitch, force, 

13 K 145 



146 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

time and inflection, and give attention to the 
cultivation of expression. 

BEGINNING TO READ. 

Reading is an art. It requires a knowledge 
of the alphabet, spelling and pronunciation. 
What has been taught or sueeested in methods 
of teaching the alphabet, orthography and pro- 
nunciation must now be reduced to practice. 

The first essential in good reading is distinct 
articulation and the prompt pronunciation of 
each word as it occurs in the composition. Ar- 
ticulation is the art of uttering distinctly the ele- 
mentary sounds in syllables and words. If pu- 
pils have been thoroughly drilled in articulation, 
there will be little difficulty in leading them into 
habits of reading clearly and distinctly. A pupil 
should not be required to read a sentence until 
he is able to pronounce, at sight, every word in 
that sentence. 

First of all, the difference between naming 
words and reading must be clearly pointed out. 
A child required to read without any previous 
instruction or direction on the subject will, in a 
forcible manner, pronounce one word after the 
other, from the beginning to the end of the sen- 
tence, and will consider that reading. In order 
to establish in the mind of the pupil the differ- 
ence between this explosive style of pronoun- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 47 

cing words, and reading, the teacher should write 
a short sentence on the blackboard, as, "James, 
bring me your hat." Let the teacher pronounce 
each of these words, not always in their regular 
order, and require the members of the class, one 
after the other, to do the same. Impress upon 
the minds of the pupils that reading is simply 
repeating from a book or paper, what some one 
else has said or written. Let the teacher say 
to his class, " Suppose you wish to ask James to 
bring his hat to you, and in order to do that you 
would use the words written on the blackboard, 
how would you pronounce these words ?" It is 
probable that most of the class will read the 
sentence in an artificial style, in an elevated key 
and a drawling tone. This style may be cor- 
rected by telling one member of the class to 
look at the boy by his side and say to him, 
"Bring me your hat," just as if he wished him 
to go and get his hat for him. Practice this by 
varying it to meet the circumstances, until each 
member of the class reads the sentence on the 
board as he would speak it to a boy if he really 
asked for his hat. After several sentences 
have been treated in this way, the teacher may 
take up the class-book and select a short para- 
graph, divide it into sentences and the sentences 
into phrases ; the smallest divisions should be 
read by all the members of the class, both indi- 



148 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

vidually and in concert. When the phrases in 
a sentence shall have been made familiar, some 
one in the class may read the whole sentence ; 
every member of the class should read it, and 
the class should read it in concert. It is better 
to spend twenty minutes in learning how to read 
one sentence well, than to blunder over two or 
three pages without having established a definite 
idea of how to read any part of it. Reading as 
an art is first learned by imitation, and is after- 
ward perfected by practice. In order to imitate, 
and also in order to practice, the pupil must 
have a model. Whenever, therefore, a single 
sentence or a short paragraph is so mastered 
by the class, that each member can read it cor- 
rectly, that sentence or that paragraph will stand 
in the mind of the pupil as a model. An effort 
will thereafter be made to read other sentences 
and other paragraphs in the same style, and 
with the same facility, that the model passage is 
read. 

THE FIRST READING LESSON. 

In assigning to a class of beginners a reading 
lesson, the teacher should select a suitable para- 
graph, one that sets forth what is within the 
comprehension of the pupils ; the pupils should 
then be instructed to study the lesson so as to 
be able to pronounce, rapidly and correctly, all 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 49 

the words in it. Before attempting to read, the 
class should be required to pronounce all of the 
more difficult words in the lesson ; the teacher 
should then read the first sentence, repeating it 
two or three times, so as to enable the pupils to 
catch the exact style in which they are expected 
to repeat the words. Now let each member of 
the class read the sentence, the teacher pointing 
out defects in pronunciation, tone of voice, mo- 
tion, force, pitch and inflection, not by introducing 
by name these qualities, or by attempting to teach 
rules for the governing of the voice, but by sim- 
ply demonstrating by vocal illustrations to the 
pupils, that they read incorrectly, and by giving 
the correct rendering. The fact to be taught to 
a class just beginning to read is, that reading 
correctly involves more than the mere naming 
of the words in the passage in regular order. 
This accomplished, the pupils are prepared to 
put forth efforts to acquire the ability to do 
something more than to pronounce, correctly, 
words in sentences. 

The teacher should impress upon the young 
pupils the idea that they are required simply to 
talk from the book. In a small reader, used 
in many of the schools, occurs this sentence: 
" Mother, William has taken his wheelbarrow 
into the garden. " Bring the children to com- 
prehend that this sentence requires precisely 
13* 



150 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the same utterance, when found in the book, as 
it receives originally, when the little child ran to 
her mother to tell her that William had taken 
his wheelbarrow into the garden. Let each 
member of the class be required to state to the 
teacher how he or she would have pronounced 
this sentence, if using it originally. Bring out a 
natural and easy utterance, make that the model 
and carry it into the book, and the work is ac- 
complished. 

CORRECTING FAULTY STYLES. 

Most teachers will find it necessary to do 
more than to establish habits of correct reading. 
They will be frequently called upon to break up 
habits of incorrect reading. This may best be 
done by drilling on a single sentence, short and 
within the comprehension of the pupil. Train 
those pupils who have been allowed to read in 
a sing-song style, with the voice pitched to a 
high key, to utter one short sentence correctly ; 
print that upon a chart, or write it upon the 
blackboard, and allow it to stand as a model, 
and whenever such pupils fall back into their 
old habits point them to the model and require 
them to repeat it. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 151 



READING TOO MUCH. 

Perhaps the greatest difficulty in the way of 
real progress in the art of reading is the per- 
nicious practice of attempting to read too much. 
A class should be kept on a short piece of simple 
composition long enough to enable it to master 
the sense in every particular, and to bring out 
the full meaning in the reading. It is better to 
give weeks, or even months, to the thorough 
mastering of one short piece, than to listlessly 
read a book through in that time. 

When a suitable piece shall have been se- 
lected, the teacher should make it a subject for 
conversation during the first recitation period. 
He should explain the meaning and sentiment 
of the composition in a style that is compre- 
hended by the members of the class, and that 
will interest them in reading it over carefully. 
In the second recitation period, devoted to this 
piece, the teacher should require from the pupils 
an explanation of the thoughts contained in 
each paragraph and of the sentiment in the 
whole composition. After the whole theme has 
been made familiar to all, the class is ready to 
begin to read. The first paragraph should be 
read by each pupil, and should be re-read until 
every member of the class renders it correctly. 
The second paragraph may then be taken up 



152 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

and treated in a similar manner, and so likewise 
the other paragraphs, until the class is able to 
read each correctly ; then each member of the 
class may be required to read the whole piece 
from beginning to end. 

THE SECOND STAGE. 

By the practice of reading from imitation, 
young pupils will very early attain that degree 
of advancement, at which the subject can be 
taken up and treated as one governed by 
principles that may be expressed in rules. From 
this point forward the method of instruction 
will be somewhat different. Hitherto the pupils 
have learned to read certain pieces by imitating 
the teacher, and by doing as nearly as possible 
what they were told to do. The first stage of 
learning to read ends when the purely oral 
methods of teaching are no longer required. 
Generally the teacher must be the judge of the 
proper time, at which to introduce rules of read- 
ing to his class. It will be better to postpone 
this change of method than to introduce it be- 
fore the pupils are prepared to comprehend the 
rules, or to apply the principles of elocution set 
forth in them. 

Before proceeding to the examination of more 
formal methods of teaching elocution, attention 
must be given to some general principles that 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 53 

should govern the teachers and authorities in 
the public schools. It is essential to keep in 
mind constantly the scope and limits of a public- 
school education. There is no branch of study- 
pursued in these schools, which has been so 
warped and abused as the one now under con- 
sideration. A few traveling elocutionists have 
been able to turn the heads of many teachers, 
and to instill the idea, that the school-rooms 
throughout the country are the proper places 
wherein to teach elocution as a " high art." Men 
and women subject themselves to severe drills 
on a few pieces of humorous and pathetic com- 
position, and then set themselves up as " elocu- 
tionists "; they visit normal schools, teachers' 
institutes, conventions and associations, where 
they " entertain " audiences by the recitation of 
their whole stock in trade. Under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, considered as an entertainment, 
these exhibitions may not be objectionable, but, 
unfortunately, they are usually prefaced, or fol- 
lowed by lectures on the subject of reading, 
laboring to show that reading is nothing if not 
performed in the manner of these "elocutionists." 
Elocution in its highest sense is a fine art. 
The ability to speak with force and elegance in 
original discourse, or in the rendering of the com- 
position of others, is a very desirable acquisition. 
The objection made here is, that the teaching 



154 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of this art, as presented by most professional 
elocutionists, is out of place in the public 
schools. For purposes of emphasis it is again 
repeated, that these schools are for the edu- 
cation of the millions. With reference to any 
study, therefore, or any exercise urged upon 
the consideration of the school authorities, the 
sole question to be determined is, whether it is 
desirable as a study, or exercise for the masses, 
who are educated in the public schools. With 
reference to the subject of reading, what is it 
that should be taught in these schools ? Clearly 
this: the reading of colloquial and descriptive 
styles of composition with grace and fluency — 
that is, the children in the public schools should, 
by a judicious system of training, acquire the 
ability to read ordinary composition, such as is 
found in the Scriptures and other family litera- 
ture, whether permanent, or ephemeral in its 
character, in such manner that they may under- 
stand it themselves, and that they who hear may 
comprehend the meaning of what is read. What 
is beyond this is technical, and no more belongs 
to the curriculum of the public schools, than the 
technical arts or sciences of other professions. 
A few simple rules, learned and applied, will 
give this ability to the pupil. The teacher 
should be critical in everything that is read, 
whether in the ordinary reading-book, or in 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. I 55 

recitations, in other studies, demanding that 
every sentence, whether standing alone or as 
part of a discourse, should be rendered correctly. 

RULES. 

The reading of every sentence involves pitch, 
force and TIME. 

Pitch. — Pitch indicates the key, that is, the 
elevation or depression of voice in which a sen- 
tence is rendered. To enable all pupils to dis- 
tinguish difference in pitch, require each member 
of the class to read a familiar sentence in an 
ordinary tone. Call that tone of voice for the 
pupil who reads the sentence, medium pitch ; 
let the same pupil then read the same sentence 
in the highest possible key, in which he can give 
a distinct utterance ; this call high pitch. The 
same pupil should be again required to read the 
same sentence in the lowest tone of voice, in 
which he can give a distinct utterance, and this 
may be called low pitch. Another pupil may 
be required to do the same thing, and may be 
able to read the sentence on a higher key, or on a 
lower key, or on both higher and lower keys, than 
the first. These terms, therefore, high pitch 
and low pitch, are relative, depending upon the 
register of the individual voice. 

All ordinary composition is read in the medi- 
um pitch. Animated and exciting discourse is 



156 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

read in a high pitch. Grave and solemn com- 
position is read in a low pitch. These general 
principles should be illustrated by the introduc- 
tion of compositions thus differing in style, which 
should be read by the teacher and repeated by 
the pupils. 

Force. — Force is a term applied to the power, 
or volume of voice used in uttering a sentence. 
Differences of force may be illustrated by per- 
suing a method similar to that described on the 
subject of Pitch. There is a medium voice, a 
loud voice and a soft voice. The medium is the 
natural volume of voice, in which the pupil reads 
ordinary composition. Loud voice is the great- 
est volume of voice that the reader possesses. 
The soft voice is the most subdued volume of 
voice, in which the pupil can give utterance to a 
sentence. 

The emotions of the heart are represented 
chiefly by the volume of voice used. When the 
heart is stirred with anger, the utterance is usu- 
ally in a loud voice. When it is oppressed by 
grief, or moved in tender affections, the utter- 
ance is usually in a soft and mellow voice. The 
two extremes of Force and the medium should 
be illustrated in proper selections, to be read by 
the teacher and repeated by the class. 

Force includes Articulation, Accent and Em- 
phasis. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 57 

Articulation has already been treated of at 
considerable length under the several divisions 
of the alphabet, orthography and pronuncia- 
tion, and also in the first stage of reading. 

Accent. — Accent is also part of pronunciation. 
Habits of correct accentuation are acquired 
through the power of imitation. Rules of ac- 
cent cannot, with propriety, be introduced to 
pupils who are learning to spell and to pro- 
nounce words. They learn accent, however, as 
it were, intuitively. Pupils readily accent words 
correctly that resemble those they have already 
learned to pronounce. Acquiring the ability to 
pronounce a word involves a practice of accent- 
uation, but does not necessarily give a know- 
ledge of the principles that govern accents. The 
rules of accent set forth in the readers are ne- 
cessarily of little use. What is required from 
the teacher is promptness in correcting any false 
accentuation on the part of the pupils, and also 
to require the accent to be distinctly marked. 

Emphasis. — Emphasis is the utterance of 
some word or words in a sentence with greater 
force, than those immediately preceding or fol- 
lowing the emphasized part receive. Before 
the pupil can rightly determine what word or 
words should be marked by an increase of force, 
he must thoroughly comprehend the meaning 
conveyed in the sentence. A sentence is a col- 

14 



158 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

lection of words expressing a thought. The lead- 
ing idea is found in some one word or phrase in 
the sentence, and whatever precedes or follows 
this is used for the purpose of explaining or limit 
ing. Emphasis is employed in giving utterance 
to bring out this leading idea, and to distinguish 
it from its surroundines. In the act of rendering- 
a sentence, if the pupil misapplies the emphasis, 
the teacher should require him to explain the 
meaning — that is, to point out the leading idea 
in the sentence ; after that has been done, there 
will be no difficulty in correctly placing the em- 
phasis. 

Time. — Time expresses the rapidity with which 
sentences are uttered. There is the ordinary or 
medium rate, which the habit of the individual 
establishes. There is a limit to the highest 
rapidity with which words can be uttered intel- 
ligibly. The other extreme is not so definitely 
marked. By slowness of time, therefore, is 
meant such deliberation of utterance as admits 
of considerable pause between the words. 

It is desirable that all pupils should establish 
habits of reading with reasonable rapidity. 
When reading is a mental exercise, it is of great 
importance to the student to be able to read 
rapidly, whatever receives his attention, and 
much may be done in our public schools to 
cultivate habits of rapid reading. As an oral 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 59 

exercise, pupils should not be permitted to read 
with greater rapidity than will admit of a clear 
and distinct utterance of syllables, and of every 
word in the sentence. 

In no case should a pupil be permitted to 
drawl out hesitatingly and indistinctly an exer- 
cise in reading. Promptness and distinctness 
should be required in the utterance of every 
sentence. If there is natural hesitation or diffi- 
dence, it may be overcome by frequent repeti- 
tion of sentences or paragraphs, until they be- 
come so familiar that the teacher can force the 
time up to such a point of rapidity as would be 
desirable for the improvement of the pupil's 
style. 

In treating of Pitch, Force and Time, only the 
well-marked distinctions have been noted ; be- 
tween medium and high and medium and low 
Pitch there are grades not well marked, how- 
ever. The same observation applies to the 
graduations of Force and also of Time. It is 
more likely to produce confusion in the minds 
of the pupils, to attempt to mark these inter- 
mediate distinctions, than to result in any good. 

When the fact is kept in view, that we are 
educating the masses of the people to do well, 
what they are likely to be called upon to do in 
their several spheres of life, the propriety of 
resting these distinctions as they are here made 



l6o ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

will be justified. If elocution is to be studied as 
an art for professional purposes, the application 
of time and effort, far beyond what is consistent 
with the public-school period, will give to the 
voice and passions, that training which will en-, 
able the reader to mark fine distinctions. These 
are required of professional elocutionists, but 
not of men and women who read in their homes 
for their own edification, or for the instruction 
of their families or friends. 

Inflection. — By inflection is meant the modu- 
lations or slides of the voice from one key to 
another. There are three inflections, the Rising 
Inflection, the Falling Inflection and the Cir- 
cumflex. 

Rising Inflection is an upward slide of the 
voice, or the passing from a lower to a higher 
pitch. 

Falling Inflection is a downward slide of the 
voice, or a passing from a higher to a lower 
pitch. 

Circumflex is a combination of the Rising and 
Falling Inflections. 

For general purposes these inflections may 
be applied as follows : 

Direct questions — that is, such questions as 
may be answered by yes or no — are usually read 
in the Rising Inflection. 

Indirect questions, or such as require a cir- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. l6l 

cumstantial answer, are usually read in a Falling 
Inflection. 

Sarcasm and irony require the circumflex. 

Composition expressing solemnity, majesty 
or awe is read without a change of voice — that 
is, in monotone. 

Elocutionists are in the habit of forming 
numerous rules on the subject of Inflection, but 
those here given will serve as sufficient guides 
to the teachers and pupils in the public schools. 
The teacher, of course, is supposed to know 
something more. If in the course of reading, 
passages should occur requiring departure from 
these rules — that is, if exceptions to the general 
rules should arise — teachers should be able to 
point them out and give a reason for them. 
For example, a direct question, though read in 
the Rising Inflection, if repeated, takes the Fall- 
ing Inflection. 

Inflection may be presented to the pupils by 
writing a sentence on the blackboard and re- 
quiring the class to read it in the Rising Inflec- 
tion and in the Falling Inflection. Examples in 
which circumflex may be applied should also be 
written on the board for the purpose of class 
drill. 

Nearly all of the reading in common life is 
done in medium Pitch, medium Force and 
medium Time, but there is not this sameness 

14 * L 



1 62 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

in the use of Inflection. It is impossible to 
converse on any subject of interest for a space 
of five minutes without using, repeatedly, the 
Risinor and Falling Inflections. Also in reading 
descriptive and colloquial styles, especially of 
the latter, Inflection is brought into constant 
and varied use. 

Before a class is permitted to read a lesson, 
the questions of Pitch, Force and Time and of 
Inflection should be determined. It will be 
necessary to examine all parts of the selection 
critically, and the teacher should require the 
several members of the class to state the Inflec- 
tion that may be properly applied to any ques- 
tions that occur in the lesson. 

When the subject of Inflection is first pre- 
sented to a class, the teacher should select 
dialogues, or compositions in which frequent 
questions and answers occur, so that marked 
examples of Inflection may frequently arise for 
the determination and exercise of the pupils. 
A short dialogue covering two or three pages 
of a Reader, thoroughly mastered by a class, will 
do more to establish correct habits in the use 
of Force and Inflection, than all the rules and 
exceptions that have been invented by elocu- 
tionists. If it should require a daily drill, during 
a week or a month, to attain this result, the time 
may be considered as very profitably expended. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 63 

A few pieces well read, during one school-term, 
will do more to establish habits of correct read- 
ing, than the mumbling of all the selections 
found in a series of six or seven School Readers. 
The multiplication of books has also multiplied 
habits of careless reading and superficial in- 
struction on the subject of elocution. There is 
no branch of common-school learning, in which 
quality and quantity are more widely separated 
than in the one now under consideration. It is 
absolutely necessary, in order to make good 
readers, that children shall be required to read 
well one selection before they are allowed to 
take up another. It may require days and 
weeks of study and of practice to become thor- 
oughly familiar with the meaning of one simple 
composition, and the proper tones of voice to 
fully express that meaning. It is better, how- 
ever, to continue the drill in one piece until 
every part of it is thoroughly mastered, until it 
is comprehended in letter, meaning and senti- 
ment ; it then is made part of the pupil's intel- 
lectual possessions ; it is set up in the depart- 
ment of judgment as a standard; it becomes an 
ever-present model, up to which the possessor 
labors to bring every subsequent effort in 
elocution. 



164 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 

The principle, that a teacher should be edu- 
cated in all branches of learning, that he attempts 
to teach, far beyond the requirements of his class, 
is so well established that, in the discussion of 
all topics, it is assumed as a fundamental condi- 
tion. The rules given on the subject of elocu- 
tion are thus deemed sufficiently practical for 
the purposes of a common-school education. 
Whether the teacher has attained great profi- 
ciency in the art of elocution, or whether he is 
simply what is understood by the phrase "a 
good reader," if he possesses the requisite cul- 
ture the position he occupies demands, he will 
have clear ideas on the subject of style, posture, 
gesture and what is included in the single word, 
" Delivery." 

First of all, the teacher should require the 
members of his class to rise before attempting 
to read. When necessary, he should give in- 
structions to guide the pupil in assuming an 
easy posture — not a stiff, inflexible position — 
standing erect and firm. The book should be 
held in the left hand, and in a position that will 
enable the reader to distinctly see the composi- 
tion which he is about to read. The reading 
should proceed with ease and fluency of utter- 
ance, and such modulation of voice as will be 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 65 

agreeable to the ear. If defects of voice are 
detected in any of the pupils, the teacher should 
give special attention, and, by repetition of suit- 
able exercises, remove the defect if it is not or- 
ganic. 

Self-examination is of importance to both 
teachers and pupils. Ordinarily every man may 
be his own best critic ; he has a standard of ex- 
cellence of his own ; he knows more of the cir- 
cumstances, motives and purposes governing his 
action than any one else. The difficulty is that 
all men are more prone to criticise other peo- 
ple's action than their own. Before attempting 
to instruct a class how to read a selection, the 
teacher should read it himself, should criticise 
his own reading by carefully comparing the ut- 
terance with the sense, and after harmonizing 
the two as nearly as it is possible for him to do, 
he is prepared to meet his class. Such general 
instructions should be given to the individual 
members of the more advanced classes, as will 
enable them to practice self-examination and 
self-criticism in conversation and in reading. 

Men frequently correct faulty pronunciation 
or clumsy utterances by making memorandums 
of these errors, as they occur, and then, by a 
severe and frequent drilling of the vocal organs 
when alone, overcome them. If a pupil is in the 
habit of reading exceedingly slow, instruct him 



1 66 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

to practice reading aloud when at home, reading 
as rapidly as possible, timing himself by the 
clock, so that by frequently repeating some 
familiar selection he may be enabled to increase 
the rate of speed at which he can distinctly utter 
the words. Attaining the ability to read one 
piece rapidly will effectually break the habit of 
slowness. Reading aloud to one's companions 
or when alone is a very valuable exercise, and 
all pupils should be encouraged to engage in it 
frequently. The ear readily detects errors or 
defects of voice which, by perseverance, may be 
overcome, but which, without the practice of 
reading aloud, would never be detected. 

It very often occurs that far too much import- 
ance is attached to the reading of poetry. If 
composition in verse is of a high order, the sense 
is very often not so easily discovered by young 
pupils ; the sentiment is not enjoyed, and thus 
the exercise is very often merely mechanical. 
More success will be achieved by practicing the 
reading of prose composition ; it will be more 
satisfactory to the pupil. His attainments can 
be carried into immediate practice. Later in 
life, when the development of intellect and sen- 
sibility makes it possible to comprehend the 
productions of the best poets, the transfer of 
skill in prose reading will be easily made. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. l6? 



DECLAMATION. 

For purposes of declamation a school should 
be so divided into convenient sections as to ad- 
mit of an exercise by one of the divisions every 
week. A very general practice is to set apart 
half a day in a month, in which the whole school 
engages in exercises of declamation and compo- 
sition. The practice here recommended is, that 
an hour each week be devoted to this subject. 
This will in no way interfere with the lessons of 
the younger children, who do not participate in 
this exercise. It will in no sense break in upon 
the regular order of the school, and will afford 
more frequent opportunity for instruction and 
criticism. Six or eirfit declamations mi^ht be 
delivered and as many compositions read within 
an hour, so as to allow time for brief and pointed 
instruction. The duty of the teacher, here, is to 
instruct his pupils, first, in the selection of suit- 
able pieces to speak ; second, in committing a 
piece to memory; third, in rehearsing- the piece 
preparatory to speaking it on the stage. 

Selecting Pieces. — Pupils should be instructed 
to select from good authors, whose writings 
abound in wholesome sentiment and correct 
teaching, to select short pieces, and to select com- 
position which, in meaning, style and sentiment, 
is within their comprehension. If pupils are 



1 68 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ambitious to speak long pieces, this ambition 
must not be gratified in the regular exercises of 
the school : on occasions of festivals, examina- 
tions or exhibitions these more extended efforts 
may be permitted, within certain limits ; but for 
the regular drill exercises of the school, the 
teacher must insist that all pieces be short. 

Preparation. — A piece that has been selected 
must be made the subject of careful study ; the 
pupil should thoroughly comprehend the mean- 
ing of the composition before he attempts to com- 
mit it to memory. This may be accomplished 
by attentively reading it over and studying every 
part. After the meaning and sentiment are 
understood, the piece should be committed to 
memory ; this must be done thoroughly, so that 
there will be no hesitation in reciting every word 
of it, from beginning to end. Thus the pupil 
may make the language, word for word, and the 
sentiment throughout the whole selection, his 
own. 

Rehearsing. — Pupils should frequently repeat 
the pieces aloud, giving the proper utterance, in 
a clear and distinct articulation, to every sylla- 
ble and word. When this can be done, they 
may be spoken from the platform to the school. 

What the teacher should aim to establish for 
his pupils is the ability to come upon the stage 
with ease and naturalness of step, as if walking 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 69 

in a private room ; to bow to the audience as he 
would to an acquaintance, gracefully ; to stand 
in an easy, natural position ; to avoid awkward- 
ness and stiffness ; to speak as if the words 
uttered were his own, and as if he wished to 
convince every person in the room, that he be- 
lieved in the truth of every sentiment expressed 
in the composition. Calmness, deliberation, 
ease and grace of mien may be cultivated in 
these exercises, if the teacher will attentively 
mark the characteristics of each little speaker 
in his school, correcting the defects of the awk- 
ward, encouraging the efforts of the timid, re- 
pressing the bombast of the bold, stimulating 
the ambition of the indifferent. Thus he will, by 
proper attention and wise criticism, lift many of 
his pupils up to a desirable degree of proficiency 
in the art of declamation. 

An elaborate system of elocution is out of 
place in the public schools, unless special classes 
are organized in the High Schools of towns and 
cities, for those who may desire to enter pro- 
fessions wherein oratory is especially useful. 
Teachers, therefore, are cautioned not to attempt 
too much in the way of declamation in mixed 
and graded schools. There is danger of en- 
couraging and of cultivating a precocious de- 
velopment, and of exciting ambitions that will 
draw away the attention of pupils from their 
15 



170 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

weightier studies in these exercises. They must 
be kept within proper limits ; the instruction must 
be pointed and practical, and the criticisms must 
be mild and persuasive. The object of declama- 
tion in schools must not be lost sight of. It is 
to cultivate such confidence in the presence of 
audiences, that will enable men to speak with 
ease, force and clearness their sentiments, on 
subjects they may be called upon to discuss. 

COMPOSITION. 

Reading lessons may be used to illustrate 
the principles of composition writing. A com- 
position, like a sentence, must have a subject. 
This subject is to be described, defined or ex- 
plained. Descriptive composition is most natu- 
ral and easy for young pupils. Describe what 
is known : a building, a tree, a farm, a cave, a 
lake, a factory, a grove. Relate what is known : 
the incidents of a journey actually made by the 
writer, what occurred at a meeting, at the post- 
office, in the village, in the church, in the school, in 
harvest-time, in winter, in summer. Pupils should 
avoid abstractions, select subjects for composi- 
tions from objects of sense, from things and scenes 
observed, beginning with the most simple and 
advancing to the more complex. The teacher 
should guide and encourage, even the smallest 
efforts, by gentle and suggestive criticisms. 




CHAPTER VIII. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 

"ARITHMETIC." 

RITHMETIC consists of explanations 
of principles and the application of 
those principles in operations of nu- 
merical combinations. The study of 
mathematics has two uses : First, to establish 
familiarity with numbers and to teach their ap- 
plication in the ordinary concerns of life ; second, 
to discipline the mind by exercising it upon 
mathematical combinations. The scope of pub- 
lic schools limits the study of mathematics chiefly 
to the first of these uses. Mathematics cannot 
be studied solely for purposes of discipline in 
public schools, without excluding studies which 
are more useful to the masses, and which serve 
equally for purposes of discipline. This prin- 
ciple has been fully discussed in another part 
of this work. 

Arithmetic, then, is studied in the public 



172 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

schools for the purpose of establishing in the 
minds of the pupils a knowledge of the proper- 
ties of numbers and their application in the con- 
cerns of life. 

The fundamental rules of arithmetic are — No- 
tation and Numeration, Addition, Subtraction, 
Multiplication and Division. 

These fundamental rules find numerous and 
varied applications in arithmetical combinations. 
Combinations may be carried to an almost 
unlimited degree of complexity, so that it is an 
easy task to multiply examples in, and to in- 
crease the size and number of books on this 
subject. Arithmetic stands at the beginning of 
a course of mathematics. 

NOTATION AND NUMERATION. 

When a child enters school, he possesses some 
knowledge which has been obtained by obser- 
vation. He distinguishes between one apple 
and two apples, perhaps between four apples 
and five apples. He may be able to count 
orally ten or twenty, or beyond this. Whatever 
the degree of knowledge, it is the duty of the 
teacher to ascertain the point where it ends, 
and precisely there is the place to begin in- 
struction. In order to continue a familiar pro- 
cess of acquiring knowledge, teachers should di- 
rect the children to provide themselves with some 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 73 

small objects to be used in counting. Beans, 
corn or small pebbles will answer the purpose. 

A class of beginners should be arranged about 
a table, each member with his counters before 
him. If all the members of the class are suffi- 
ciently advanced, the teacher may require them 
to count out twenty objects, moving one object 
as each number is named. The twenty objects 
counted may be separated by the pupils into 
sets of two each, and thus they will see how 
many twos there are in twenty. They may be 
separated into sets of ten each, and the pupils 
will see how many tens there are in twenty. 
This exercise may be varied to any extent that 
the teacher may deem proper or that the cir- 
cumstances may require. By the use of the 
blackboard, the teacher may illustrate the oper- 
ations performed by the pupils with their coun- 
ters, and thus the children will learn to associ- 
ate the figures on the board with the number of 
objects before them. 

Pupils who studied the alphabet, spelling and 
pronunciation by the use of the slate and pencil 
will already be familiar with the forms and 
meaning of numerals, at least from one to nine. 
If they have not been thus drilled in the use of 
slate and pencil, they will require some special 
teaching, and the slate and pencil should at once 
be introduced. The children may be required 

15* 



1/4 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

to write upon their slates numbers representing 
objects exhibited by the teacher. The "arith- 
metical frame" may be employed to exhibit num- 
bers and combinations of numbers, which the 
children may write upon their slates. A gen- 
eral class drill may also be carried on by the 
use of the blackboard ; the teacher may rapidly 
draw a number of small circles, or make straight 
marks ; he may remove some and draw others, 
questioning the class all the while, so that it will 
state correctly the number of strokes or circles 
on the board. As soon as the pupils are able 
to associate the written characters with the num- 
ber of objects, they are prepared to engage 
regularly in written exercises in Notation and 
Numeration/ 

Schools should be supplied with a series of 
small charts containing, in large and distinct 
print, combinations of figures. The first chart 
should contain in one column all from one to 
nine, in other columns from ten to nineteen, from 
twenty to twenty-nine, etc., to ninety-nine. The 
second chart mi^ht contain numbers from one 
hundred to nine hundred, and from one thousand 
to nine thousand. 

In the lessons upon the first chart the teacher 
will instruct the class, how any number of ob- 
jects, from one to nine, may be represented by 
a single figure, and that all numbers over nine 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. IJ$ 

require more than one figure to express them. 
The pupils are supposed to have with them a 
supply of counters. They should first be re- 
quired to count ten of these, and lay them in one 
place on the table, then to count another ten 
and lay it on the table. The teacher may illus- 
trate on the blackboard that the figure one 
and a cipher represent ten, and that when two 
tens are brought together, instead of writing 
one ten twice, the figure two is substituted for 
the figure one, and that twenty is two tens. The 
meaning of thirty, forty, fifty, etc., may be ex- 
plained in the same way, and this is deemed 
sufficient for the first exercise. 

In the second lesson the teacher should ex- 
plain how one ten and one unit make eleven. 
Here the little objects may again be employed. 
Ten are counted out, and one ten is written upon 
the blackboard, then a single object is taken and 
placed by the side of ten, and the teacher ex- 
plains that the mode of writing this on the board 
is to remove the cipher and place a unit in the 
position the cipher occupied; then the one on the 
left represents one ten and the one on the right 
one unit; one ten and one unit are eleven units. 
Other numbers up to twenty may be constructed 
and explained in like manner. Twenty is two 
tens ; two tens and one unit make twenty-one 
units, the cipher being again removed to make 



I76 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

room for the unit. The counters in the hands of 
the pupils may be employed to illustrate the 
meaning of this combination. The same method 
is carried through to ninety-nine. One hundred 
is ten tens, and one hundred and one is ten tens 
and one unit; with slight variation the same 
devices employed to give pupils the idea of 
combinations below one hundred will be equally 
applicable in the construction of numbers above 
one hundred. These lessons in Notation and 
Numeration should be transferred by the pupils 
to their slates. The charts can be so placed 
that the pupils can copy from them while occu- 
pying their seats. 

ADDITION. 

Whilst teaching Notation and Numeration, 
operations of Addition and Subtraction will be 
carried on to such an extent that the pupils will 
be fully prepared to enter regularly upon the 
work of addinof numbers. All arithmetics used 
in the public schools begin with simple combi- 
nations of numbers, so that in the first exam- 
ples the sum of the column added is always 
less than nine. Pupils are supposed to possess 
such books. The teacher is required to explain 
the principles of Addition from the blackboard. 
The first idea to be impressed upon the pupil is 
that only things of the same kind can be added 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. l?7 

together. Thus, if in the class one boy has a 
bag of corn and another a number of pebbles 
to be used as counters, five pebbles and four 
grains of corn will not make nine pebbles or 
nine grains of corn. This illustration is useful 
to explain that five units and four tens cannot 
be added so as to make nine tens or nine units. 
Units must be added to units and tens must be 
added to tens. If Notation and Numeration 
have been thoroughly taught, the pupils under- 
stand that when two figures are placed side by 
side the left-hand figure is tens, and, therefore, 
if in adding the column the sum is expressed in 
two figures, the figure on the right hand is units 
and that on the left is tens, and as the column 
added is units and the next on the left is tens, 
the number representing tens in the sum must 
be added to the column of tens. This is the 
whole subject. The lesson must be enforced 
by a variety of illustrations sufficient to impress 
it upon the mind of the pupil. 

SUBTRACTION. 

No principles are employed in the operations 
of Subtraction that are not taught in the opera- 
tions of Addition. The question for the pupil 
to settle is, how many units must be added to 
the subtrahend to make it equal to the minuend. 
This, in all examples, in which each figure in the 

M 



178 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

minuend is larger than the one immediately un- 
der it, is all that the pupil is required to deter- 
mine ; but when some figure in the minuend is 
smaller than the one standing immediately under 
it, the operation of taking one unit from the next 
figure on the left and adding it to the figure that 
is too small, thereby increasing it by ten, must 
be explained. This is a reversal of the opera- 
tion learned in Addition. The fact that the fig- 
ure standing on the left represents ten times 
as much as the same figure would if standing 
on the right, is again called up. When the 
figure on the left is carried over to the column 
on the right, it loses none of its value; therefore 
the figure in the subtrahend is subtracted from 
the figure in the minuend increased by ten units. 
When the next figure in the subtrahend is to be 
taken from the figure above it, the fact, that the 
upper figure has been diminished by taking one 
from it to add to the figure on the right, must 
be recognized — that is, the figure is now treated 
as representing units, and as one unit was bor- 
rowed from it, which made ten when it was 
added, it is now treated as diminished by the 
subtraction of one. This may be illustrated, if 
necessary, by the use of the pupil's counters. 
If the minuend consists of three tens and two 
units, and the subtrahend of one ten and four 
units, these numbers may be counted out in 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 79 

beans ; if from three tens, which may consist of 
three sets of beans of ten each, one set is re- 
moved, and its ten units are added to the two 
units, from which the pupil is required to sub- 
tract four units, there will be ten units and two 
units, which make twelve units, and by taking 
away four beans it is demonstrated that eight 
beans, or units, remain. Now, in the place where 
there had been three sets of tens only two sets 
remain, and from these two sets of ten beans 
each one ten is to be subtracted, which leaves 
one ten ; one ten and eight units is therefore 
written as the answer. 

MULTIPLICATION. 

The operations in Multiplication proceed on 
exactly the same principles as those in Ad- 
dition ; instead of adding one number to an- 
other, it is now required to add a number to 
itself a given number of times ; the multiplicand 
is to be added to itself as many times, less one, 
as there are units in the multiplier. The pupils 
should be taught to construct a multiplication- 
table by the aid of their counters. Thus a boy 
with a quantity of beans may ascertain for him- 
self how many two times. one are, how many two 
times two are, how many two times three are, 
and how many two times four are ; by the same 
process, how many five times two are, how many 



l80 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

five times seven are. The teacher should direct 
the pupils to carry on these operations in regu- 
lar order, to rule their slates properly, and to 
write upon them their conclusions ; in this man- 
ner they will be able to construct a complete 
multiplication-table, from two times one to 
twelve times twelve. When this table shall 
have been completed and approved by the 
teacher, it may be copied by the pupils upon 
paper. Thus all may be taught how the mul- 
tiplication-table is constructed. Pupils will more 
readily and eagerly commit to memory what 
they have themselves produced, and will sur- 
prise their parents and friends by communicat- 
ing the fact to them that they have made a mul- 
tiplication-table just like the one in the book. 
The application of this table is the end of the 
exercises in Multiplication. 

DIVISION. 

Operations in Division are also similar to those 
taught in Addition. The pupils are required to 
ascertain how many times the divisor must be 
added to itself in order to make it equal to the 
dividend, and the number that indicates how 
many times this must be done is called the quo- 
tient. Or, to employ the training obtained in the 
construction and use of the multiplication-table, 
the question is, how many times must the divisor 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. IS I 

be multiplied in order to equal the dividend? 
When there are several figures in the dividend, 
and the divisor is not contained a number of 
times into any one of these without a remainder, 
how that remainder is added as tens to the next 
figure on the right as units must be explained. 
This may be done, if it is deemed necessary, by 
the use of the counters. 

These are called the fundamental rules of 
arithmetic. Pupils should be drilled in solving 
problems involving these rules, unembarrassed 
by any other principles or combinations, until 
they are thoroughly familiar with them. Teach- 
ers should make it an invariable practice not to 
allow pupils to advance beyond the examples 
under these rules until this groundwork is 
thoroughly performed. All subsequent opera- 
tions in numbers consist simply in the variations 
of the combinations and applications of these 
rules. Facility in their use, therefore, will be of 
advantage throughout the study of mathematics. 

DENOMINATE NUMBERS. 

The school arithmetics in common use usu- 
ally introduce, immediately after the fundamental 
rules, tables of currency, weights and measures, 
and the examples presented for solution employ 
numbers denoting currency value, weight and 
measure. It may be proper, at this point, to 

16 



1 82 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

introduce the subject of the currency of the 
United States and the weights and measures 
employed in the ordinary business transactions 
of the country. All other tables should be de- 
ferred to the closing portion of the common- 
school arithmetic. What is to be introduced 
here, then, is a table of the currency of the 
United States, a table of avoirdupois weights, a 
table of dry and a table of liquid measure, and 
tables of linear measurements ; tables of foreign 
currency, apothecaries' weight and troy weight, 
and such other technicalities as are sometimes 
introduced in arithmetics, should not be pre- 
sented to the pupil at this early stage of his 
progress. In view of the efforts now being 
made by the leading nations of the world to re- 
duce to one system the weights and measures 
used in mercantile transactions, the metric sys- 
tem, which seems to meet with general favor 
and is the one most likely to be adopted, may 
properly find place in the arithmetic, nearer the 
end of the book, however, than the subject now 
under consideration. It will require no special 
skill on the part of the teacher to introduce 
these denominate numbers, inasmuch as at the 
beginning of the instruction in arithmetic de- 
nominate numbers were first used in the case 
of the beans, corn and pebbles brought to school 
by the children. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, 1 83 

Those absurdities in modern arithmetics in- 
vented in early times, when it was useful to 
know how to reduce a given sum from one cur- 
rency to another, or from a given weight to an- 
other, which are now of no possible use, should 
be excluded from common-school arithmetics, or 
when found there should be passed over without 
notice. 

FRACTIONS. 

One of the most interesting and delightful 
portions of arithmetic is the subject of fractions 
when it is logically presented and clearly de- 
monstrated in all its principles. When it is 
bunglingly presented, without proper explana- 
tions or demonstration, it is one of the most dif- 
ficult, embarrassing, tedious and discouraging 
passages in the study of mathematics. In pre- 
senting the subject of fractions to a class, the 
teacher should occupy the time of the first reci- 
tation in demonstrating, by numerous devices, 
so that each member of the class will clearly 
comprehend, first, what a fraction is ; secondly, 
what the numerator is ; third, what the denomi- 
nator is ; fourth, the relations of the numerator 
and denominator to the unit; and fifth, the re- 
lations of the numerator and denominator to 
each other. 

What is a Fraction ? — The definition tells us 
a fraction is part of a unit. The teacher may 



184 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

have on his desk an apple and a knife ; he may 
divide the apple into two equal parts, and say- 
to his class, " This apple is a unit ; if I divide it 
into two equal parts, one of these parts is called 
one-half; if I divide one of these halves into two 
equal parts, one of these parts will be one-fourth 
of a unit, or apple." Using the blackboard, the 
teacher may write -, which represents a part of 
the unit, and is therefore a fraction. He may 
write 7, which represents a part of a unit, and 
is therefore a fraction ; the subdivision of the 
unit may be carried forward by dividing the 
parts of the apple as far as practicable, carrying 
the notation on the blackboard parallel with the 
division of the object. Thus the idea of a frac- 
tion will be impressed upon the minds of the 
pupils. 

The Numerator and Denominator. — Now let 
the teacher take up two parts of the divided 
apple, two-fourths, if they remain, or if not, a 
second apple may be divided for this purpose; 
going to the blackboard, he will illustrate the 
manner of writing 7, the manner of writing |, 
the manner of writing | and |, enforcing the 
idea now, that the figure below the line, called 
the denominator, shows into how many parts 
the unit has been divided, and the upper figure, 
which is called the numerator, shows how many 
of these parts of the unit are expressed in the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 85 

fraction. Thus, when the apple is divided into 
two equal parts, the denominator is 2 ; when it is 
divided into four equal parts, the denominator is 
4 ; when it is divided into eight equal parts, the 
denominator is 8. When one of these parts, is 
to be represented, the figure 1 is used as a 
numerator, as, |, f, f; when two of these parts 
are to be expressed, the numerator is 2, as, 

r 7> J' 

The denominator also indicates the size of the 

parts. In the fractions |, j, |, the denominator 

2 shows that the unit is divided into two equal 

parts, and that, therefore, one of the parts is 

half of the unit ; the denominator 4 shows that 

the unit is divided into four equal parts, and, 

therefore, one of these parts is a fourth of the 

unit. It is, therefore, seen that f is larger than 

7, and that § is smaller than 7, and still smaller 
4 1 s r 

than f. 

The relation of the Numerator and Denomi- 
nator to the Unit. — It has been demonstrated 
that the denominator of a fraction shows the 
number of parts into which the unit is divided, 
and also the size of the parts ; that the numer- 
ator represents the number of these parts in- 
cluded in the fraction ; therefore, as the denomi- 
nator increases, the size of the parts of the unit 
diminishes, and hence the fraction diminishes. 
The reverse of this is true of the numerator, as 



1 86 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the numerator represents the number of parts 
of the unit that are expressed by the fraction ; 
the increase of the numerator increases the 
number of parts, the size of which remains the 
same, that are to be included in the fraction, 
and, therefore, the increase of the numerator in- 
creases the value of the fraction. By increasing 
the fraction is meant bringing the value or size 
of the part it expresses more nearly to that of 
the unit. That is, the parts or the sum of the 
parts are made more nearly equal to the whole. 

This lesson should be illustrated by dividing 
and sub-dividing an apple or other convenient 
object, and combining the parts so as to en- 
force it upon the mind of the pupil, and thus the 
principle is brought out that the value of a frac- 
tion is increased by increasing the numerator, 
or by decreasing the denominator, and that the 
value of a fraction is decreased by diminishing 
the numerator or increasing the denominator. 

The relation of Numerator and Denominator 
to each other. — When a unit has been divided 
into a number of parts, and several of these 
parts are to be represented, it will frequently 
occur that both numerator and denominator may 
be diminished without affecting the value of the 
fraction. Thus, suppose the unit has been di- 
vided into eight equal parts, and it is pro- 
posed to represent six of these parts ; this will 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 87 



require the form -, but - is the same in value 
as s - For practical purposes it is convenient to 
express fractions in the lowest possible terms. 
Now it has already been explained that dimin- 
ishing the numerator decreases the value of the 
fraction, and diminishing the denominator in- 
creases the value of the fraction in the same 
ratio. If, therefore, the numerator 6 be divided 
by 2, and the denominator 8 be divided by 2, the 
result will be j; and thus the principle is de- 
duced that multiplying or dividing both the nu- 
merator and denominator by the same number 
will not alter the value of the fraction. 

OPERATIONS IN FRACTIONS. 

With a thorough knowledge of the principles 
just explained, pupils will experience but little 
difficulty in performing operations in fractions. 

Reduction of Fractions. — In the very begin- 
ning of the study of arithmetic, pupils are taught 
that only such numbers as represent the same 
things can be added to each other. This prin- 
ciple applies throughout all arithmetical pro- 
cesses. The denominator of a fraction shows 
the number of parts into which the unit has been 
divided. In attempting to add or subtract frac- 
tions, it is necessary first to bring them to the 
same denomination, thus, - and 3 -, if added to 
each other, would not make fourths, or eighths, 



1 88 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

or twelfths ; they must be brought to the same 
denomination before they can be added. Ap- 
plying the principle that the value of the fraction 
is not changed by multiplying the numerator 
and denominator by the same number, it is seen 
that t may be reduced to -, and the problem 
will then be to add f to 7, which q-'wq 7. 

If the problem had been one of subtraction, 
the same process of reduction would have been 
necessary, | from | would leave j. The only 
element, therefore, entering into addition and 
subtraction of fractions, which is not employed 
in adding and subtracting units, is -the element 
of the reduction to the same denomination : 
- are added to 7 in the same way that three 
beans are added to six beans ; in one case the 
sum is nine-eighths, and, in the other, nine beans. 

Multiplication of Fractions. — If a fraction is 
to be multiplied by a whole number, it is re- 
quired to increase the fraction as many times as 
there are units in the whole number by which it 
is to be multiplied. The pupil knows already 
that a fraction may be increased by multiply- 
ing the numerator or by dividing the denomi- 
nator. If ~ is to be multiplied by 2, this may 
be accomplished either by multiplying the nu- 
merator 1 and writing the result thus, -, or by 
dividing the denominator by 2 and writing the 
result thus, -. In order to express the fraction 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 89 

in its lowest terms, the latter process is prefer- 
able in all cases where the denominator is divis- 
ible without a remainder by the multiplier. 

If it is required to multiply a whole number 
by a fraction, as, to multiply 6 by 7 , the teacher 
should explain that the process will be the mul- 
tiplication of 6 by - of 3 ; therefore, if 6 be mul- 
tiplied by the numerator 3, the product will be four 
times too large, because the multiplier given is 
not 3, but only - of 3. It must therefore be re- 
duced by dividing it by 4. Pupils should be 
required to perform solutions of such examples, 
and to state the reason for each step in the pro- 
cess. 

If it is required to multiply a fraction by a 
fraction, it is necessary to state to the class that 
the multiplicand is to be multiplied by such part 
of the numerator of the multiplier as is ex- 
pressed by the denominator of the multiplier ; 
thus, if - is to be multiplied by -, the requirement 
is to multiply J by | of 2. If J be multiplied by 
2, which may be done by multiplying the nume- 
rator by 2, giving -, the product is as many times 
too large as there are units in the denominator 
of the multiplier — that is, in this case it is five 
times too large. It must, therefore, be reduced 
to that extent. This can be accomplished by 
dividing the product by five. The fraction may 
be divided by multiplying the denominator. 



190 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 



Doing this, the result is — or — . This rule is 
therefore deduced, that a fraction is multiplied 
by a fraction by multiplying the numerators 
together for a new numerator and the denomi- 
nators together for a new denominator. The 
product should always be reduced to its lowest 
terms. 

Division of Fractions. — The teacher should 
demonstrate on the blackboard the processes in 
the division of fractions. To divide a fraction by 
a whole number, the purpose is to decrease the 
fraction as many times, less one, as there are units 
in the divisor. It has been demonstrated that 
a fraction may be decreased by diminishing the 
numerator or by increasing the denominator. 
This has already been sufficiently explained. 

To divide a whole number by a fraction, it is. 
required to decrease the whole number as many 
times, less one, as there are units in a divisor, 
which itself stands in the relation of a dividend 
to another divisor — that is, if 6 is to be divided 
by |, it is required to divide 6 by J- of 3. If, 
therefore, 6 is divided by 3, the quotient 2 is five 
times too small, because the divisor used is that 
many times too large; it must, therefore, be mul- 
tiplied by 5, the result being 10. 

When a fraction is to be divided by a fraction, 
the requirement is the same as when a whole 
number is to be divided by a fraction. But th^. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 191 

application of the principle involves also the di- 
vision of a fraction, and this fraction is to be 
divided by such part of the numerator of the 
divisor as is expressed by the denominator. If 
j is to be divided by |, it is required to divide - 
by j of 2 ; j may be divided by 2 by multiplying 
the denominator by that number, which gives - g , 
but inasmuch as it is required to divide j by only 
j of 2, the quotient is necessarily five times too 
small, and must, therefore, be increased to that 
extent. A fraction is increased by multiplying 
the numerator ; by applying this principle the 
result is ~. Thus the rule is deduced, that a 

o 

fraction is divided by a fraction by multiplying 
the denominator of the dividend by the numer- 
ator of the divisor, and by multiplying the num- 
erator of the dividend by the denominator of the 
divisor. Of course, in all cases in which the 
numerator and denominator of the dividend are 
divisible, without remainder, by the numerator 
and denominator of the divisor, that is the direct 
process. 

PROPORTION. 

The definitions of Ratio and Proportion, 
usually found in the school arithmetics, are 
sufficiently accurate for the purposes of the 
following explanation. The teacher is supposed 
to be familiar with these definitions. In pre- 
senting the subject to his class, he proceeds to 



TQ2 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

deduce, by processes within the comprehension 
of the pupils, the principles of proportion, and 
the rules by which proportions are constructed 
and solved. He writes upon the blackboard 
two numbers, as 6 and 3 ; by division, 3 is 
contained in 6 twice. This relation between 6 
and 3 is called ratio, and is expressed by the 
figure 2. If the numbers 8 and 4 are written 
upon the board, the same relation or ratio will 
be found to exist between them, and may also 
be expressed by the figure 2. That is, the rela- 
tion between 6 and 3 is the same as between 8 
and 4. The ratios are equal. The teacher may 
explain, that when two numbers are placed in 
such relation to each other, the first is called the 
antecedent and the second the consequent ; the 
two terms when taken together are called a 
couplet. Ratios exist only between numbers 
of the same kind, or between abstract numbers. 
It would not be proper to say that the ratio 
between 6 apples and 3 turnips is the same 
as between 8 boys and 4 girls. If the num- 
bers are denominate numbers, the antecedent 
and consequent of a couplet must be of the 
same denomination. 

When ratios are equal, this fact is usually ex- 
pressed by placing them opposite to each other, 
thus, 6 : 3 : : 8 : 4, and this formula expresses the 
equality of ratios — that is, the relation of 6 to 3 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 93 

is equal to the relation of 8 to 4. When thus 
written, the one on the left is called the first 
couplet, and that on the right the second coup- 
let, and the formula thus expressed is called a 
proportion. A proportion, therefore, is an 
equality of ratios. The first and the fourth 
terms are called the extremes, and the second 
and third the means, of the proportion. These 
terms in every proportion sustain such a rela- 
tion to each other, that the product of the means 
is always equal to the product of the extremes. 
If, therefore, one of the means or one of the ex- 
tremes of a proportion is wanting, it can be 
found by dividing the product of the extremes 
by the given mean, or, in the other case, by 
dividing the product of the means by the given 
extreme. 

All this should be fully and clearly demon- 
strated by the teacher on the blackboard. The 
members of the class should be continually 
questioned, both to direct their attention and 
to assure the teacher, that they comprehend his 
explanations. The principles should then be 
summed up succinctly : 

Ratio is the relation with respect to value 
that one of two similar numbers bears to the 
other. 

Proportion is an equality of ratios. 

The members of a proportion are called 
17 N 



1 94 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

couplets ; both terms of the couplet must be of 
the same denomination. 

The relation between the first and second 
terms of a proportion must be the same as the 
relation between the third and fourth terms. 

The product of the means is equal to the pro- 
duct of the extremes. 

A missing extreme may be found by dividing 
the product of the means by the given extreme. 

A mean may be found by dividing the pro- 
duct of the extreme by the given mean. 

With these principles fully comprehended, the 
class is prepared to advance to the considera- 
tion of problems involving proportions. Take 
an example: If 12 eggs cost 36 cents, what 
will 9 eggs cost ? This, or a similar problem, 
the teacher may announce to his class and pro- 
ceed to construct from it a proportion. It is 
not at all necessary to consider the required 
term as the fourth term of the proportion, 
though for uniformity in practice, this established 
custom may be adopted. In the problem here 
given the number to be found is the price of 9 
eggs ; this will be expressed in cents. It is, 
therefore, evident that the fourth term will be 
in the denomination of cents ; the third term 
must be of the same denomination, according 
to the principles already demonstrated. The 
only number in the problem of this denomina- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 95 

tion is 36, the price of 12 eggs; $6 must, 
therefore, be written as the third term of the 
proportion. The fourth term, when found, will 
be the price of 9 eggs ; the third term is the 
price of 12 eggs, and is, therefore, larger than 
the fourth will be ; when the second couplet is 
complete, therefore, the antecedent will be larger 
than the consequent. The principles of a pro- 
portion require, that the ratio in the first couplet 
shall be the same as that in the second ; there- 
fore in the first, the antecedent must be larger 
than the consequent. Of the two remaining 
terms, 1 2 eggs and 9 eggs, 1 2 is the larger, and 
must be written as the antecedent, and 9 as the 
consequent, of the first couplet ; the proportion 
stands thus, 12:91:36: — . Here is a proportion 
incomplete by the absence of one extreme. By 
the principles already enunciated, this is found 
by multiplying the means and dividing their pro- 
duct by the given extreme, 36x9-^12 = 27, 
and the complete proportion is, 12 : 9 :: 36 : 27. 
This whole subject may be clearly presented 
to a class at one recitation of twenty minutes' 
duration. Teachers should immediately give 
other examples, or direct the pupils to open 
their books to the first examples given under 
the rule, and proceed to construct proportions 
by the application of these principles. The 
pupils should be required to run through the 



I96 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

process of reasoning, rapidly, stating how the 
proportion in a given problem shall be con- 
structed and how it shall be solved ; in most 
cases the result may be announced without the 
necessity of transferring the numbers to a slate 
or blackboard. This introduces a proper ap- 
plication of mental arithmetic. 

This method of presenting and explaining 
the subject of proportion is infinitely prefer- 
able, and is much more salutary in its effects 
upon the minds of the pupils, than the old prac- 
tice of memorizing the definitions and rules, 
which are afterward to be applied, without any 
very definite idea of their meaning. 

A Lesson in Proportion. — Let it be supposed 
that a class in arithmetic is engaged in the solu- 
tion of problems involving the principles of 
proportion, that yesterday, ten problems were 
solved and demonstrated upon the blackboard 
by the class, and that to-day, an equal number 
of problems is to be recited. The proper 
mode of conducting this recitation is as follows : 
The most difficult problems in the lesson are 
assigned to pupils, one to each, who are re- 
quired to proceed to the blackboard and to 
write out the solutions complete ; whilst this is 
being done, the remaining members of the 
class are directed to open their books at the 
lesson of yesterday ; the teacher designates some 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 97 

member of the class, who is required to proceed 
to solve, mentally, the first problem in yester- 
day's lesson — that is, to relate, without the use 
of visible signs, the processes involved in the 
solution. Another member of the class solves 
the second problem in a similar manner, and 
thus the lesson of yesterday is reviewed through 
the operation of mental solutions, performed by 
those members of the class, who are not required 
to solve problems on the blackboard. Those 
problems in to-day's lesson, which are deemed 
not sufficiently intricate to require solutions 
upon the blackboard, may also be solved men- 
tally by members of the class. As soon as any 
one of the pupils at the blackboard shall signify 
that the problem assigned has been solved, the 
progress of the mental solutions in the class is 
suspended, while the pupil, with a suitable 
pointer in his hand, proceeds to explain to 
teacher and class the processes of the solution 
on the board. In this manner the whole class 
is actively employed during the whole time of 
the recitation ;• there is an exercise in written 
arithmetic and an exercise in mental arithmetic 
every day. The difficult problems are solved 
and demonstrated by members of the class, 
who thus exercise their faculties in performing 
mathematical operations, and in explaining to 
others, in what manner these operations are car- 

17* 



I98 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ried on and the final result obtained. This is 
an exhibition of knowledge possessed, and an 
exercise in the art of explaining to others 
what they should know. The solution of all 
problems in arithmetic mentally — by which is 
meant carrying on the processes in the mind 
without giving written expression — trains the 
mind in habits of definite and rapid thought, and 
accustoms the pupil to the use of language 
called up instantly to give expression to the 
thoughts evolved by mental operations. This 
is the best preparation for the scenes and duties 
of active life. It converts written exercises into 
mental exercises ; it employs all the time ac- 
tively, so that every moment is converted to 
good purposes and makes " mental arithmetic,'* 
as a distinct study, altogether unnecessary. 

Sufficient has now been said on the subject 
of teaching arithmetic to establish the general 
principles involved in the method here set forth. 
The teacher should in every case lead his class, 
demonstrate principles and deduce rules, so that 
pupils will be able to see how, from the combi- 
nations of principles, rules and processes are 
evolved ; they will follow the teacher through 
every demonstration, and in many cases men- 
tally reach the result before the teacher has 
evolved it on the blackboard, or has announced 
it to his class. The immediate application of 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 1 99 

the rules thus deduced is easy and agreeable, 
and if, throughout the study of arithmetic, the 
practice in mental solutions in review lessons 
is made a daily exercise, the principles will be 
so fully impressed upon the minds that pupils 
will not be required to drag this study along 
through the whole period of school-life. When 
a class has thus gone through arithmetic, all the 
members of it will have a clear comprehension 
of the subject, and will have experienced the 
lively satisfaction, that always results from a 
consciousness of knowledge possessed. They 
will, at the end of the term, lay aside the class- 
book with the agreeable confidence that they 
have thoroughly mastered all that is in it. Such 
a class may advance to the study of natural 
philosophy, physiology, botany or other sciences 
wherein the fundamental principles of arithme- 
tic will be applied, and thus frequently passed 
under review. The process of mental discipline 
will be carried on so much more vigorously, 
through labors in these new fields of research, 
that it is an indignity to an active intelligence 
to force, on the plea of discipline, a retracing of 
studies in arithmetic. To exercise, for years, 
pupils thus thoroughly drilled in the ground- 
work, in the application of simple rules in intri- 
cate processes, under the mistaken notion that 
only thus, in public schools, can needful mental 



200 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

culture be obtained, would be a misfortune, a 
blunder, if not a crime. 

The study of arithmetic in mixed schools 
should not be extended beyond the study of 
Fractions, Proportion, and Percentage, including 
Interest and Discount, illustrations of business 
forms used in the making up and adjusting of 
accounts, and superficial measurements as em- 
ployed for ordinary business uses. This con- 
templates and embraces a course in Bookkeep- 
ing, in which the essential principles, and the 
practical system of entries and transfers, used 
in the actual operations of the counting-house, 
will be taught. What is beyond this is techni- 
cal, and belongs to special branches of learning 
to be pursued by those, who wish to qualify 
themselves for special vocations, but is not at all 
of concern to the great masses, who are educated 
for the common affairs of life in public schools. 
Mathematical intricacies are superseded for pur- 
poses of discipline, and are therefore altogether 
ruled out of the public-school curriculum as use- 
less. 




CHAPTER IX. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 




GEOGRAPHY. 

IHE method of teaching Geography 
which is here commended, presupposes 
that the teacher will not merely assign 
lessons, ask questions and hear an 
swers, but that he will teach Geography' to the 
class. 

Geography, as applied to the study in public 
schools, is a description of the earth's surface, 
the surrounding atmosphere, the people and 
other living creatures that inhabit the earth, its 
soil and productions, together with such modifi- 
cations as have been effected by man, including 
political divisions, political institutions, public 
improvements, etc. A mass of facts is to be 
presented in some methodical order to young 
pupils. The method usually adopted in most 
schools is, to place the Geography and atlas of 

201 



202 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

some author in the hands of pupils, assign a 
lesson, require them to study it and appoint a 
time for recitation. The recitation is conducted 
by the teacher, who takes up the book and asks 
the questions printed in small type, and requires 
the pupils to repeat the answer as printed in 
large type. In this manner the preliminary 
definitions, the astronomical part, the political 
divisions, the races of men and a scrap of phys- 
ical Geography are disposed of. The study of 
the grand divisions, of political divisions, includ- 
ing public improvements, products, governments 
and religions, are treated in the same superficial 
manner. This pernicious system was built up 
and is now fostered by the authors of Geogra- 
phies, most of whom are disposed to follow a 
stereotyped form of compilation. Thus, one 
common-school Geography differs from another 
chiefly in the phraseology of questions and an- 
swers, illustrations and maps. 

The natural method of presenting Geography 
to a class of beginners is found in the nature of 
the subject to be studied. First, knowledge of 
the general appearance of the earth's surface is 
to be acquired ; secondly, the operations of na- 
ture proceeding on a large scale upon the earth's 
surface, such as the changes of seasons, currents 
of air and water, and the distribution of people 
and other living creatures ; thirdly, the changes 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 203 

produced by man upon the earth's surface, such 
as die building of cities and towns, construction 
of highways, as canals, railroads and turnpikes, 
the founding of empires, of governments, com- 
merce, and the like. Each of these general 
divisions comprises several subdivisions ; these 
will be indicated in the discussion of the general 
divisions. 

The Earth's Surface. — The first lessons in Ge- 
ography should be confined to descriptions of 
the earth's surface. The proper place to begin 
is at the door of the schoolhouse. In the imme- 
diate vicinity of every school, there may be found 
some feature that may be taken as the begin- 
ning for a lesson. There may be a stream of 
water, a creek or river, that passes through a 
valley or between mountains. Here there are 
characteristics to be described. Tracing the 
course of the stream toward its source, the 
teacher may describe the general appearance 
of the country on both sides of it, stating how 
far the source is from the point of observation 
and what streams are combined to produce that 
which flows by the schoolhouse. He may pur- 
sue the course of the stream downward and de- 
scribe the scenery on both of its banks, state 
what other rivers or streams flow into it, and 
where it empties its ever-flowing current into 
some other stream, into some lake, sea, bay, 



204 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

gulf or ocean. Possibly a spring, bubbling up 
from the earth near the schoolhouse, may be a 
most convenient starting-point for a lesson. 
Whence comes this water that issues from the 
earth and flows down upon the slopes on its 
surface ? Here the rising of vapors, the form- 
ing of clouds, the falling of rain, may be de- 
scribed, as the processes by which water is taken 
up from and returned to the earth. Then the 
course of the rivulet flowing from the spring 
may be followed until it joins itself to some 
other stream. The stream of the combined riv- 
ulets may be traced until it unites with some 
river, and thence finds its way to the ocean. 

The schoolhouse may be among mountains 
or it may be on a plain ; it may be in country 
or it may be in city; but wherever it is, let the 
description of the earth's surface begin there, 
and spread out in all directions, and combine all 
features, until the idea of the pupil embraces the 
surface of the whole earth. These descriptions, 
it is true, will not be exhaustive. They will not 
be technical. In a scientific sense they may not 
be complete, but for the purpose of teaching 
Geography to a class of beginners, they may be 
complete. 

This will be accomplished solely by oral in- 
struction. No books are used; none are re- 
quired. The idea of a valley, of a mountain, of 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 205 

a plain, of a river, of a lake, of a sea and ocean, 
the idea of great water-currents and great air- 
currents, of clouds, of rain, of canals, of railroads, 
of turnpikes, of villages, of cities, counties, town- 
ships, school districts, will be grasped more rea- 
dily by this method than by efforts to communi- 
cate them through formal lessons framed by 
bookmakers. 

If the class is one of small children, the teacher 
may use the blackboard in describing water- 
courses, mountains and plains, in noting sites 
of cities, in representing canals, railroads and 
turnpikes, so that pupils will become accustomed 
to associate the sketches on the board with the 
features or objects they are designed to repre- 
sent, and they will thus be better prepared to 
enter upon the study of Geography by the use 
of books and maps. The average capacity of 
the class and the fertility of the region of coun- 
try in distinguishing features of surface, will 
enable the teacher to determine the extent to 
which these oral exercises shall be carried. 
That teacher, who will put forth efforts to frame 
such lessons for his classes during the first week, 
or even two weeks, of their study of Geography, 
will find his labors abundantly repaid in the inter- 
est the classes will take when they come to the 
use of books and the recitation of lessons there- 
from. It will be easy to carry the young mind 

18 



206 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

from the object lessons, thus supplied, to the 
contemplation of the remotest parts of the earth. 
Imagination will readily frame pictures of far- 
distant regions, guided by observations, induced 
by these preliminary instructions. 

DAY AND NIGHT. 

One of the most interesting lessons that the 
teacher can bring before his class in this oral 
method, before books are used, is the explana- 
tion of the phenomena of day and night. The 
observation of the youngest child has prompted 
the question, What makes day, and what makes 
night? The teacher may introduce this subject 
so pleasantly and simply that all will be inter- 
ested in it, and all may comprehend the princi- 
ples that govern the phenomena. Though no 
schoolhouse should be without charts or globes, 
it is assumed for the purpose of elementary in- 
struction that, as is frequently the case, the 
teacher is without any apparatus, except only 
such as he can construct from materials at hand. 
He states to his class that the earth has two 
motions ; one is a motion on its axis, and the 
other is a motion through space around the sun. 
Let him take a spheroid-shaped object, as an 
apple, or turnip, or potato, or an onion, or a ball 
such as the boys use to play with, and attach it to 
a string two or three feet in length. By holding 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 207 

the end of the string in such a position that the 
ball will be suspended and easily seen by all the 
members of the class, he may twist the string in 
his fingers and thus produce a revolution of the 
spheroid on its axis. This illustrates the mean- 
ing of the first definition. If he will move his 
hand so as to describe circles, he will cause the 
spheroid to move in the same way, and if, at the 
same time, he will twist the string, two motions 
will be produced ; one is the revolution on the 
axis, and the other is the motion through space. 
Of course the teacher will think of explaining 
to the children, that the earth is not thus sus- 
pended by a string, but that it moves in space 
and is held in place by invisible forces. 

The class is told that the revolution of the 
earth on its axis produces day and night. This 
may be illustrated as follows : Let the teacher 
provide himself with some large spheroid. If 
he is in a city or manufacturing town, he can 
procure at a turner's shop, for a few cents, a 
piece of wood turned in the required form ; if 
he is in the country, he can obtain a large turnip 
or a 'pumpkin; or if unprovided with either of 
these, a ball, or a hat with a round crown, will 
answer the purpose. He explains to his class 
that east and west, north and south, points of 
the compass, are relative terms applying to the 
earth and its sphere. Place upon the middle of 



208 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the spheroid, between the poles, the letter E, 
and call that point east ; directly opposite to this 
attach the letter W, and call that point west ; 
midway between the E and W attach some ob- 
ject, as a strip of paper, to represent a place 
inhabited by an observer. Let one of the boys 
in the class be stationed on the platform ; hold- 
ing the spheroid in such position that the letter 
E will be next to the boy, say to the class, Sup- 
pose that boy represents the sun; now, if men 
are residing here where this mark is — pointing 
to the object between the E and W — which way 
would they look to see the sun ? The answer 
will be, Toward the east; and the question, 
What time of day is it when you look toward 
the east' and see the sun ? would bring out the 
answer, Morning. Now turn the spheroid so 
that the object representing the place of the 
observer is directly opposite the boy ; the pupils 
will see that the observer then looks straight 
away from the earth, and will understand that 
it is noon to him ; continue to turn the sphe- 
roid until the letter W is seen by the boy who 
represents the sun, and the pupils will perceive 
that the observer looks westward to see the 
sun, and will understand that it is then evening 
at that point. When the spheroid is turned 
so far that the observer is on the opposite side 
from the boy on the platform, it is impossible 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 209 

for him (the observer) to see the sun, and there- 
fore the. pupils will understand that it is night. 
As the spheroid is turned still farther, the ob- 
server will again be able to see the boy on the 
platform by looking eastward, and it is then 
morning. 

By some such simple method every teacher 
may make plain to young children, what is very 
often not clearly understood by full-grown per- 
sons. If a teacher is provided with globes and 
orreries, maps and charts, and has skill to use 
them, such simple devices will be unnecessary. 

THE SEASONS. 

Another interesting lesson may be given on 
the seasons. By the use of the same spheroid 
provided for the previous demonstration, a 
teacher may give to his class a correct idea of 
how the seasons are produced by the revolution 
of the earth about the sun. Let him draw upon 
the surface of the spheroid lines, representing 
the equator and the lesser circles on the globe, 
explaining that the position of the earth is al- 
ways such, that the axis inclines toward a fixed 
point in the heavens. Some object may be 
placed upon the teacher's desk to represent the 
sun, or a boy may stand upon the platform for 
this purpose ; the teacher will explain that, when 
the rays of the sun strike the earth perpendicu- 

18* 



210 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

larly, they produce a greater heat, than when 
they strike it obliquely, just as a rod projected 
against a board perpendicularly strikes with 
greater force, than if it is projected obliquely. 
By holding the spheroid in such position that 
the axis will always incline in the same direc- 
tion, and moving it about the object used to re- 
present the sun, the teacher will illustrate how 
the rays of the sun in different parts of the 
earth's course, sometimes strike equatorial re- 
gions perpendicularly, and at other times por- 
tions north or south of the equator perpendicu- 
larly ; that when the perpendicular rays are 
upon that portion of the earth south of the 
equator, and the oblique rays upon that portion 
of the earth north of the equator, the greatest 
heat is south and the greatest cold is north ; 
that it is then summer south of the equator and 
winter north of the equator ; that as the earth 
continues in its course and presents to the per- 
pendicular rays more northernly portions of its 
surface spring approaches, and as the most 
northern latitudes pass under the perpendicular 
rays midsummer is reached, and then the earth, 
still passing on its course, presents more south- 
erly portions of its surface to the perpendicu- 
lar rays, and thus autumn and winter come 
upon northern latitudes. This can be clearly 
illustrated by simple contrivances within the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 211 

reach of every school-teacher. They will add 
great interest to the study, and, in many in- 
stances, the uniqueness of the apparatus will do 
much to stamp durably upon the mind the 
truths illustrated thereby. 

RACES OF MEN. 

The ramifications of commerce into all parts 
of the globe and the construction of railroads in 
all parts of the country have induced such an in- 
termingling of the races, that almost every school- 
district will furnish in its population two or more 
characteristic types of the human race. A set 
of photographs, lithographs or engravings rep- 
resenting the distinguishing features of races, 
may be purchased at small cost, and can be used 
as the subject for a very interesting lesson. The 
teacher, of course, should not attempt to discuss 
the finely-marked and questionable distinctions, 
but only those well-defined outlines in feature 
and character that 'can be comprehended by the 
class before him. 

MAPS AND BOOKS. 

After such a course of preliminary training, 
the class in Geography is prepared to take up 
the study formally from maps and books. The 
subjects treated of in the oral lessons may be 
rapidly reviewed from the text. The method 



212 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of conducting recitations by questions and an- 
swers is the very worst that can be advised for 
teaching Geography to pupils of all grades, and 
should be abandoned. It is much better to re- 
quire one pupil to describe the distribution of 
water on the earth's surface ; another, the divis- 
ions of land ; another, public improvements ; 
another, the appliances of commerce. This 
brings the whole subject unitedly before the 
whole class, which is much better than to serve 
it up as hash. In what manner the study of 
any political or general or grand division of the 
earth's surface should be presented to a class has 
been fully described in another part of this work. 
Geography presents many suggestive lessons, 
and a teacher should constantly be on the alert 
to take advantage of these suggestions and en- 
large upon the lesson in the text. History con- 
tributes many interesting incidents to Geogra- 
phy. Geology and Astronomy likewise bring 
rich treasures to this department of learning. 
It is, therefore, especially one of those branches 
of common-school studies in which teachers pre- 
eminently are required to teach, and not merely 
to exercise classes in questions and answers. 

MAP-DRAWING. 

In the study of political divisions, where bound- 
aries are to be defined, as also in the study of 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 21$ 

the grand divisions, where general features are 
to be impressed upon the mind, where cities are 
to be located and points made interesting by 
historic events are to be indicated, exercises in 
map-drawing afford the best discipline, and tend 
to fix definitely and durably in the mind those 
outlines and features in Geography which it is 
desirable to remember, and at the same time it 
excludes masses of insignificant trash which not 
unfrequently comprise the bulk of the text-books 
on Geography. Both positively and negatively, 
therefore, map-drawing is a valuable and de- 
sirable exercise. It may, moreover, be intro- 
duced to pupils who are at that age, when ina- 
bility to grapple with the more intricate branches 
of common-school learning gives time for map- 
drawing, which is then made to serve as well 
for recreation as for instruction. What is usu- 
ally termed Physical Geography will be consid- 
ered in the chapter on Geology and other sci- 
ences. 






CHAPTER X. 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 

BOTANY. 

HE elementary facts of the science of 
the vegetable kingdom are every- 
where visible. No study presented to 
pupils of the medium public-school age 
is more interesting or attractive than that which 
describes these facts, classifies and combines 
them in a science. How to observe intelligently 
the growth and decay' of vegetation, how to dis- 
tinguish one class of plants from another, the 
ability to name herbs, shrubs and trees at sight, 
can be acquired at a very early age, and will be 
among the most useful and agreeable knowledge 
that is gathered in the whole course of com- 
mon-school study. 

Two methods of studying botany are pre- 
sented : 

ist. That which begins, with the seedling 
rising from the ground and observes its devel- 
opment into a full-grown plant. 

214 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 21 5 

2d. To begin with full-grown plants and 
study their differences and similarities so as to 
classify them in accordance with well-marked 
characteristics into classes, orders, tribes, gen- 
era and species. A strict adherence to the 
natural order in scientific investigation would re- 
quire the pupil to pursue the first method — that 
is, to begin with the seedling just rising from the 
ground, and to trace the changes produced until 
the ripened seed, similar to that which was de- 
posited in the ground, is reached. But for the 
purpose of common-school learning, and to 
bring the subject fully within the comprehen- 
sion of the pupils, the second method should be 
adopted — that is, children who have observed 
the differences in vegetation, and are familiar 
with the outward form of many plants, should 
be instructed to systematize their observations, 
to inspect closely objects presented, with the 
view of ascertaining which are like and which 
are unlike, and in what respect they are like 
and unlike. 

The study of botany is clearly divisible into 
two periods — the period of observation and the 
period of classification. In the first period pupils 
should collect facts, and in the second period 
they should classify the facts in accordance with 
similarities of form and structure. The facts of 
botany are plants and their parts. The classi- 



2IO ART OI TEACHING SCHOOL. 

fication of botany is in series, class, order or 
family, tribe, genus, species, variety. 

This division of the subject gives rise to two 
series of lessons — one series in which pupils 
may learn to distinguish the forms and parts of 
plants ; another series in which pupils may learn 
to compare plants and to classify them, begin- 
ning with the largest division and proceeding 
downward through the smaller divisions. 

FIRST SERIES OF LESSONS. 

The study of botany should begin in the 
spring or summer, when vegetation is abundant. 
The first lesson should be on some familiar 
plant, as a violet or a buttercup, found in all 
parts of the United States. Suppose, then, the 
teacher has provided for the lesson a few speci- 
mens of the buttercup, full plants, with all the 
parts well developed. Hold the plant in the 
left hand, so that all the members of the class 
can see it, and with the right hand point to the 
parts. To begin with, here is a root ; note its 
shape; it is slender, branching, or it is bulbous ; 
the class should be questioned as to what other 
plants have roots similar in form, and the 
teacher may name a few most familiar. Proceed 
next to examine the stem : it is single or it is 
branching ; the branches grow out from the 
main stem opposite to each other, alternately, 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 2\J 

or in whorls; the stem is soft, fleshy, succulent, 
or it is hard and woody; it is hairy or smooth; 
it is solid or it is hollow. All these particulars 
must be determined. Here are leaves ; what is 
their general outline ? Have any other plants 
leaves like these in shape ? The leaves, like 
stems, grow out opposite to each other, alter- 
nately, or in whorls ; the edges of the leaves 
are regular or irregular ; hold a leaf up to the 
window and see if veins or branches are visible ; 
these veins are parallel or netted. Here are 
flowers, also ; examine one of them and dis- 
cover its structure. These glossy yellow parts 
are called petals — do not forget that name, petals ; 
there are five of them, and when taken together 
they form the corolla. But, see, here is some- 
thing under the corolla that has been over- 
looked; here are five green leaflets, or some- 
thing that resembles leaflets; these are sepals; 
the five taken together form the calyx. The 
calyx is a seat or base for the corolla ; the sepals 
are supports for the petals ; the sepals are green, 
like the stem and leaves, the petals are richly 
colored, a golden yellow. The five petals are 
not arranged directly over the five sepals, but 
they grow out alternately with them. On the 
top of the flower, filling the cup formed by the 
corolla, are a great number of fine, delicate 
parts ; upon close examination it is found that 

19 



2l8 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

these are not all of the same form ; there are 
two forms of vegetable organs here, and there 
are a great many of each kind ; first, in the out- 
side circles of this little cup is one kind and in 
the centre is another kind of organs ; these on 
the outside are called stamens, those in the cen- 
tre are called pistils. Count the stamens and 
pistils in the specimens. 

The superficial examination of a plant as here 
indicated will suffice for one lesson. In another 
lesson other specimens of the same tribe or 
genus should be examined and the differences 
pointed out. Of the buttercup genus, there are 
species with smooth stems and species with 
hairy stems ; there are bulbous roots and branch- 
ing roots ; there are also marked differences in 
the leaf forms, stems and flowers, which will 
afford materials for two or three lessons. 

The knowledge acquired in the study of the 
structure of plants of one family prepares pupils 
to advance to the comparison of specimens from 
two or more distinct families. 

The mint family is found in nearly every part 
of the United States early in summer, and is, 
therefore, a very proper subject for a lesson of 
comparison. The stems of mint are square, the 
leaves are opposite and the corolla is single 
and lip-shaped. The mustard family will supply 
convenient specimens to be introduced with the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 219 

mint family. In these the stems are round, and 
have a pungent, watery juice ; the flowers have 
four sepals arranged in the form of a cross, and 
four petals arranged in the same manner, and 
the leaves are alternate. The differences be- 
tween the members of these two families, there- 
fore, are very marked. The plants of the mus- 
tard family will also be known by their seed-pods, 
such as are found in the cresses, in pepper-root, 
in the mustards, in the shepherd's purse, in pep- 
per-grass, and, what is still more common, in 
the radish. Radishes and mint are familiar to 
most children ; these differences will, therefore, 
be studied with interest, and that there is no 
family resemblance or natural relation between 
these two orders of plants will be fully compre- 
hended. 

These lessons in the general comparison of 
plants may be extended so as to include speci- 
mens of the herbs, shrubs and trees most nu- 
merous in the vicinity and most marked in their 
characteristics. 

SECOND SERIES OF LESSONS. 

A second series of lessons may be sq framed 
as to comprise a more close examination of spe- 
cimens of the same order, tribe or genus. Let 
the neighborhood be thoroughly scoured by the 
pupils, who should be instructed to collect spe- 



220 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

cimens of some well-marked family — as, for ex- 
ample, the mint family — ascertain how many 
varieties can be found in the vicinity of the 
schoolhouse, examine these closely, in order to 
point out their characteristic differences, and 
thus exhibit the features that determine the clas- 
sification. 

In these lessons of the second series, a teacher 
may with propriety introduce technical names 
of leaf forms. The veins of leaves may be ex- 
amined more closely to discover differences 
in arrangement. The general outlines of the 
leaves should be distinguished — whether they are 
linear, that is, long and narrow ; lanceolate, that 
is, lance-shaped ; whether they are oblo7ig, that 
is, two or three times as long as broad ; whether 
they are elliptical, or oval, or wedge-shaped, or 
heart-shaped, or kidney-shaped, or arrow-shaped, 
or halberd-shaped, or shield-shaped. By exam- 
ining a number of leaves it will be found, that 
the points in different leaves are unlike in form 
of termination. Some are acute, ending in an 
acute angle ; others are obtuse, that is, have a 
blunt or rounded ending ; others are retruse, or 
have a shallow notch in the end ; others are ob- 
cordiate, that is, are inversely heart-shaped ; 
others cuspidate, round, but tipped with a sharp 
point like a tooth. Leaves differ also in the 
outline of their edges. Some have smooth out- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 221 

lines; others are saw-toothed on the margin; 
others have deep, round dents or scallops ; 
others are jagged in the margin, having sharp, 
deep, irregular teeth; some leaves are lobed, 
like those of post oak ; others are deeply cleft, 
like some varieties of the maple. All these va- 
rieties are put in one class, and are called sim- 
ple leaves. Others are put in the class of com- 
pound leaves ; these are such as are composed 
of a number of parts, as the leaves of the locust 
or the pine family, and the variations in such gen- 
eral characteristics should be pointed out, the 
teacher being careful never to present so much 
in any one lesson as to cause confusion or to 
engender discouragement. Technical names de- 
scribing forms of leaves will be enough to begin 
with. As classes advance and become more apt 
in marking distinctions, names can be given de- 
noting these distinctions, and, by frequent refer- 
ences, the repetition of the name and its appli- 
cation to the feature indicated by it, will make 
both familiar. 

The lessons in the first and second series 
might with profit be given to an entire school, 
and occasionally an afternoon might be spent in 
examining the vegetation in some field or grove 
near the schoolhouse. In such excursions, the 
school may be divided into classes, and a leader 
appointed for each class, whose duty it would be 

19 * 



222 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

to see that none of the children stray away or 
miss the instruction given in the excursion. The 
older pupils should be directed to assist their 
younger companions in finding specimens of 
plants, and to instruct them how to distinguish 
the most marked features in different classes. 
In this way the whole school will be interested, 
and numerous specimens will be collected which 
can be carried to the school-room for close 
inspection and classification. By pursuing this 
method all members of the school will soon 
become familiar with the name of every herb, 
shrub and tree in the neighborhood ; the pupils 
will, in turn, instruct their older brothers and sis- 
ters, and even their parents, and thus a general 
diffusion of useful knowledge will take place, 
for which the teacher will receive due praise. 

CLASSIFICATION. 

When the facts of the science of botany shall 
have been collected by a system of observations 
as above* described, the time and the materials 
for classification are at hand. The technical 
names belonging to the parts and features of 
plants should be learned in the first and second 
series of lessons. As the facts are collected 
they should be named. This will enable the 
teacher to speak intelligently of characteristics 
which determine classification. Moreover, when 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 22$ 

a fact or a phenomenon is observed, it should be 
named, so that the- name and the fact may be at 
once associated, and the one may be used to 
indicate the other. The pupils have already 
learned that plants reproduce themselves by 
seeds; that in most plants the seeds are ma- 
tured in the flower, or in the seat of the flower; 
that other plants do not bear flowers, but pro- 
duce, instead of seeds, spores, which grow on the 
leaves. Of these the ferns furnish a good ex- 
ample. The first classification of plants is based 
on this feature — plants that bear flowers and 
plants that do not bear flowers. This distinc- 
tion divides the whole vegetable kingdom into 
two series, flowering plants and non-flowering 
plants. 

By examining the structure of plants it will 
be found that the fibres of the stem in some 
grow in circles, like the oak, chestnut and other 
familiar trees — that is, an additional circle of 
woody fibre is added to the stem of the plant 
each year. Many annuals — such plants as 
grow up in the spring and decay in the fall 
and winter — have the same structure, the 
fibres are arranged in circles; in other plants 
fibres are arranged in bundles, as is the case in 
the palm family and in the lily family. By cut- 
ting the stem of a common lily, or of sorghum 
or broom-corn, it will be seen that the fibres of 



224 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

which it is composed are arranged in close bun- 
dles, and not in circles, as are the fibres of the 
buttercup, the rose and geranium. Plants in 
which the fibres of the stem are arranged in cir- 
cles are called outward growers, because the 
stem increases by adding one layer of fibre to 
another. Plants in which the stem-fibres are 
arranged in bundles are called inward growers, 
because they increase by putting up through the 
middle of the stem additional bundles of fibre. 
This gives rise to another classification arnon^ 
flowering plants. The first class are the out- 
ward growers and the second class the inward 
growers. The teacher may give the technical 
names of these classes as exogenous and endoge- 
nous. In the first class the leaves are netted- 
veined, in the second class the leaves are mostly 
parallel-veined. This is sufficient for one lesson 
in classification. Now let the pupils be instruct- 
ed to scour the fields and woods to gather speci- 
mens of exogenous and endogenous plants, bind- 
ing those belonging to each class in bundles. 

The second lesson may be given on the di- 
visions of exogenous plants. The teacher may 
explain without giving the technical distinctions 
that Class i contains two sub-classes; the second 
of these sub-classes contains all plants with 
the exception of conifera or cone- bearing plants, 
of which the pine is an example. Sub-class i 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 225 

contains plants with flowers having a calyx and 
a corolla, as is seen in the example of the but- 
tercup, with separate sepals and petals present. 
It also contains plants in which the petals are 
united into one, and plants whose flowers have 
neither calyx nor corolla, or only a calyx ; this 
gives rise to three Divisions. Division i, in 
which the calyx and corolla are present, with 
the parts distinct and separate ; Division 2, in 
which the calyx and corolla are present, but the 
petals of the corolla are united in one piece; 
Division 3, in which the corolla is always, and 
the calyx sometimes, wanting. 

To illustrate this lesson, the teacher should 
have present specimens of each of these sub- 
classes and divisions. Before the class is dis- 
missed, the pupils should be instructed to collect 
a number of specimens representing each sub- 
class and each division, binding them in sepa- 
rate bundles. 

A third lesson may be based upon some of 
the orders or families under the first division of 
exogenous plants. Those flowers with numer- 
ous stamens — that is, those in which the num- 
ber of stamens is more than twice the number 
of sepals — may be taken up. Among these will 
be found some families that are already familiar — 
the rose, the buttercup and the portulacca. The 
members of these families will be distinguished 



226 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

by the differences in the arrangement of calyx 
and corolla, the number of petals, the position 
of the stamens and the position and form of the 
leaves. 

The subject of classification is thus fairly in- 
troduced ; the process is now essentially the 
same throughout the study. 

A class thus instructed is prepared to take 
up the " Manual of Plants" and trace character- 
istic features through the entire classification, so 
as to acquire facility in observing and accuracy 
in distinguishing, that will enable them to ascer- 
tain the name of any plant that may be pre- 
sented for their determination. Throughout the 
whole study the teacher must lead his class ; 
whenever he discovers symptoms of confusion 
of ideas, or inability to classify as far as the in- 
struction has gone, he should immediately begin 
a thorough review, should present new illus- 
trations, and thus rediscuss the subject in such 
a manner as to clear away the difficulty and re- 
new the zeal and confidence of his pupils. If 
the teaching is thorough, there is no danger of 
teaching too much ; as long as there is a family 
of plants undetermined, as long as there are 
herbs, shrubs or trees in the neighborhood not 
named by the class, the search and classification 
should go forward. 

Though the spring season is the proper time 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 227 

in which to begin the study of botany, a teacher 
taking charge of a school, which opens in Sep- 
tember, should take advantage of the closing 
weeks of the season of vegetation to instruct his 
pupils in this beautiful and attractive branch of 
natural history. 

By giving directions for the drying and press- 
ing of specimens of plants and arranging them 
in herbariums, properly labeled, with time and 
place of gathering the plants noted, he will en- 
sure an ever-increasing interest in this study and 
thereby give additional value to his labors, by 
providing for contributions to science. Every 
State might thus obtain, through its department- 
of public education, a complete collection of the 
vegetation found upon its soil. 

GEOLOGY. 

According to Prof. Hitchcock, a division of 
geology of practical value is as follows: ist. 
Scenographical geology, or an account of rocks 
as they exhibit themselves to the eyes — in other 
words, an account of natural scenery. 

2d. Economical geology, or an account of 
rocks with reference to their value or their ap- 
plication to the wants of society. 

3d. Scientific geology, or the history of rocks 
in their relations to science or philosophy. 

In the language of geology, the term rock em- 



228 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

braces all the materials, including the solid com- 
pact forms of rocks, as well as soils, clays and 
gravels that cover the solid parts. This signifi- 
cation should be explained to the whole school 
at the very beginning of the study of geology. 
As a branch of learning adapted to the scope of 
public schools, the study of geology must be 
confined to the first and second divisions of the 
subject as above made. 

Natural scenery is produced chiefly by the 
arraneement of the rocks that constitute the 
surface of the earth ; it is true, the surface is 
usually covered with vegetation, but this as 
often detracts from as it adds to the general 
effect. The first lessons in geology, therefore, 
are lessons on scenery — are lessons on the mate- 
rials composing the surface of the earth as they 
are presented to the eye. In the walls of the 
schoolhouse, in the road or street, in the fields 
adjoining the school-lot, will be found specimens 
of rocks differing widely in their appearance ; 
some are white, some blue, some red, some 
gray ; some are smooth and regular in fracture, 
others are rough and irregular ; some are soft 
and some are hard. Here are facts observed ; 
these should be named and classified. If the 
school is in the rural districts, children, in walk- 
ing half a mile to and from school, will observe 
in the road-bed, or in the fields on the side of 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 229 

the road, that the ground in some places is of a 
yellowish color, in other places of a reddish 
color, in some places stiff and clayey, in other 
places loose and sandy ; or they may pass over 
ledges of rock in place. At one point this rock 
may be white, smooth, satiny in its fractures ; 
in another it may be white, smooth and glassy 
in its fractures. If pieces of rock from such 
ledges be taken and rubbed together, it will be 
found that one is scratched and cut on the sur- 
face, whilst the other remains unchanged ; that 
one is calcspar, which is lime, and the other 
quartz, which is flint. The neighborhood may 
be examined to ascertain at how many points 
limestone may be found in place, and at how 
many points quartz may be found in place. If 
there are mountains in the vicinity, in all proba- 
bility one side of the mountain will show lime- 
stone and the other side sandstone or granite. 
Ores, coal, marble, felspar, and generally strati- 
fied rock and unstratified rock may be found in 
close proximity in many neighborhoods through- 
out the country. 

These are surface phenomena that are ob- 
served ; they should be studied and classified ; 
this will afford agreeable, easy and profitable 
work for a school at every session. If the 
school is in a city, the specimens of building 
stone that can be found in almost every school- 
20 



230 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

district will afford illustrations of facts in geol- 
ogy. The accessible suburbs and the great 
parks, fruitful in botanical and geological illus- 
trations, should be visited and studied systemati- 
cally and regularly. The banks of streams, 
especially where they have cut through hills 
and mountains, or where they impinge against 
hill and mountain slopes, will frequently afford 
views of rock in place, so that pupils can see 
how one stratum is laid upon another in the 
structure of the earth. The deep cuts made in 
the construction of railroads lay bare many hid- 
den secrets, which pupils from schools in the 
country and in city should be invited to examine 
and study. Every schoolhouse should contain 
a case of shelves and drawers, into which speci- 
mens of all the rocks, both solid and disinteg- 
rated, in the district, should be arranged, prop- 
erly labeled with the name of the specimen and 
place where it was found. A system of ex- 
changes may be introduced throughout the 
county, so that each schoolhouse would soon 
contain a complete cabinet of geological speci- 
mens representing all the formations in the 
county ; these exchanges might be extended 
through the State, so that all the formations in 
the State would be represented in the cabinet 
of each school-district, and the school-depart- 
ment at the State capital, by a requisition upon 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 23 1 

the several districts, might procure for the State 
a complete geological and mineralogical cabi- 
net, in which would be represented the soils, 
rocks and minerals of the State. Under such a 
course of instruction the pupils in every school- 
district would be made thoroughly familiar with 
the names of the rocks and minerals in their 
respective neighborhoods. 

An examination of the mountains, hills, valleys 
or plains in the vicinity of the schoolhouse will 
give profitable recreation, and the acquaintance 
with their geological structure that will thus be 
acquired will constitute part of the most practi- 
cal and useful knowledge that pupils will carry 
from the school- room into the active concerns 
of life. 

The whole subject of Scenographical geology 
may be successfully taught without the use of 
text-books. 

Economical geology . — When the names of the 
rocks and their positions in the surface forma- 
tions have become familiar to the pupils, a know- 
ledge of their uses will be easily and speedily 
acquired. 

In the studies of the uses of rocks it will be 
convenient to divide them into two classes: first, 
those that are in solid masses, and, second, those 
that have become disintegrated into soils, clays, 
etc. The teacher is supposed to be familiar 



232 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

with Scientific geology, including the chemistry 
of geology, for he will have occasion to draw fre- 
quently upon his resources to explain the rela- 
tive qualities of soils and their adaptability to 
purposes of agriculture, so as to explain, gene- 
rally, the classes of vegetation that grow most 
luxuriantly on each variety of soil found in the 
neighborhood, and also the uses of clays and 
sands in the manufacture of brick, earthen or 
delf ware and glass. Rocks in masses are chiefly 
useful as building material, differing very greatly 
in value for such purposes. The rock in place 
in every neighborhood may be examined and its 
relative value as a building material determined 
and noted in the records of the school-district. 
This work may also be accomplished more thor- 
oughly for the class without the use of a text- 
book than with it. The effects of water, air, sun- 
shine and heat upon soils and rock, whether in 
solid masses or in disintegrated forms, should be 
explained by the teacher, and examples of these 
operations of the elements should be pointed 
out in the geological excursions made in the 
neighborhood. 

Geology, like botany, is a study for the sum- 
mer season. It may be taken up at the open- 
ing of a school in the fall and pursued as long 
as practicable, when it may be laid aside and its 
place supplied by the study of Physiology or 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 233 

Natural Philosophy. Scientific geology is, with 
few exceptions, beyond the scope of a public- 
school course. Where there are graded schools 
or high schools, the whole subject of geology 
can, after a period of observation and classifica- 
tion as above described, be taken up and thor- 
oughly studied from text-books. 
20* 




mm 



>M 




CHAPTER XL 
METHODS OF INSTRUCT/ON.— Continued. 

GRAMMAR. 

|ARLY writers on the subject of Eng- 
lish Grammar adopted the theory, that 
it is the business of grammarians to 
construct a language. They followed 
the same order of construction that is observed 
in the study of the natural sciences. They 
presented elementary facts and treated of their 
names, forces and uses; they set forth principles 
and rules that are to determine the combinations 
and uses of these elementary facts. They multi- 
plied definitions, rules and exceptions, and then 
required the student of the English language to 
carry these definitions, principles, rules and ex- 
ceptions into the analysis of the literature of the 
language, chiefly to ascertain, whether the authors 
of that literature constructed their composition 
in accordance with the rules laid down by gram- 
marians, or if not this, then to apply these rules 

234 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 235 

to the composition of authors in order to show- 
that the theory of the language agrees with the 
structure, or, conversely, that the structure of 
the language agrees with the theory. The er- 
roneous assumption of the first writers on Eng 
lish grammar has been copied and strictly fol- 
lowed by their successors, and, therefore, there 
are no text-books on English grammar of any 
practical value as school-books. With errone- 
ously-constructed text-books and the blind de- 
pendence of most teachers upon these books, 
grammar, as taught in the public schools, and, 
in fact, in all schools, has been one of the most 
disagreeable, incomprehensible, discouraging 
studies with which pupils, students and teachers 
have been embarrassed and annoyed. 

In a strict sense, grammar is the science of 
language. It is the business of the grammarian, 
not to construct a language, but to explain a 
language that is already constructed and in use. 
The pupils who enter the public schools, and 
have arrived at that age and degree of advance- 
ment, at which the study of grammar may with 
propriety be taken up, have attained a certain 
degree of skill and facility in the use of the 
English language. 

Those who are members of families, in which 
language is used correctly, come to the school- 
room with habits of correct speaking. Those 



236 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

whose associations have been with parents and 
friends, who speak the English language incor- 
rectly, come to school with habits of incorrect 
speaking. The language of the first class — 
namely, those who have been reared to use 
speech correctly — will not be improved by the 
study of grammar. The errors of the second 
will not be corrected by the study of grammar, 
but the force of habit will be counteracted by 
imitation, and by judicious criticisms from the 
teacher in recitations and discourses. 

In presenting the subject of English grammar, 
or the science of the English language, as a 
study in the public schools, the question to be 
determined is to what extent this science may 
be profitably studied by those pupils, who con- 
stitute the masses in these schools, and who are 
not likely to attend any other institution of 
learning. 

If, in the spelling-classes, the uses of capital 
letters and punctuation marks have been noted — 
as should be the case in spelling from dictation 
and discourse — and if in the reading-classes the 
structure of sentences, the meaning of words 
and the uses of punctuation have been properly 
studied, there is little remaining to be taught on 
the subject of grammar, to pupils in the public 
schools, that properly comes within the scope of 
these institutions. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 2tf 

It is exceedingly doubtful whether the subject 
of grammar can be taken up as a study in these 
schools, without consuming time that might be 
much more profitably devoted to other branches 
of learning. Nevertheless, in order to assist 
those who deem it essential that the " mother 
language" shall be studied in the schools of the 
people, a practical method of instruction is here 
set forth. 

THE FIRST LESSON IN GRAMMAR. 

First, then, it is the duty of the writer and 
teacher of English grammar to explain the 
structure of the language, with the use of which 
the pupil is to a very considerable extent familiar. 
Pupils have already learned, in the reading-les- 
sons, what is meant by the term sentence — a 
collection of words expressing a complete 
thought. " Merchants sell goods," is a collection 
of words declaring a fact, conveying an idea, ex- 
pressing a thought. Here are three words com- 
posing this sentence. Let the teacher, in his 
first lesson to a class entering upon the study 
of grammar, write this or a similar sentence on 
the blackboard. There are two principal parts 
to every sentence. Before a fact can be de- 
clared, or an idea expressed, there must be a sub- 
ject concerning which the fact is to be declared, 
or of which the idea is to be expressed. That is, 



238 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

before a man writes or talks he must have some- 
thing to write or talk about ; this something 
of which he is to write or speak is called the 
subject. In the sentence before us, of what do 
we speak ? Clearly of merchants ; the declara- 
tion is concerning merchants, and therefore mer- 
chants is the subject. 

The second part of every sentence is evidently 
that which is said of the subject. If a man 
wishes to write or to speak, it is not only neces- 
sary that he shall have a subject to write and 
speak of, but it is also necessary that he shall 
write or say something about that subject. That 
which he says of the subject is called the predi- 
cate. In this sentence before us it is said of 
" merchants" that they "sell goods;" therefore 
sell goods is the predicate. The sentence is thus 
divided into two principal parts, of " merchants," 
the subject, and " sell goods," the predicate. Now 
let the teacher write upon the blackboard, as 
rapidly as possible, six or more sentences, and 
require the pupils to name the subject and the 
predicate in each. Let him then invite the 
pupils to suggest sentences of their own, which 
he may also write on the blackboard, so that the 
subject and predicate may be distinguished. 

This is a process of analysis. The language is 
taken up, and the learner proceeds, by analysis, 
to resolve sentences into their parts, for the pur- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 239 

pose of discovering the relation of those parts ; 
beginning first with the largest divisions the 
process is to arrive, by a series of subdivisions, 
to the simple elements. The teacher may indi- 
cate a general form of analysis, which may be 
followed by the pupils in separating sentences 
into subject and predicate ; thus, " Merchants 
sell goods " is a sentence, because it is a collec- 
tion of words expressing a complete thought. 
" Merchants " is the subject, because it is that of 
which an affirmation is made. "Sell goods" is 
the predicate, because it is that which is affirmed 
of the subject. The teacher should require each 
member of the class to bring to the next recita- 
tion twelve simple sentences written on paper, 
with a perpendicular line drawn between the 
subject and the predicate of each sentence. This 
much will be sufficient for one lesson. 

SECOND LESSON. 

In the second lesson the teacher may explain 
that, when two or more sentences expressing a 
complete thought are united, they are, when 
taken together, called a compound sentence. 
There are, therefore, two classes of sentences, 
simple sentences and compound sentences. The 
drill in the second lesson should be the analysis 
of compound sentences by separating them, 
first into simple sentences and then stating the 



240 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

subject and predicate of each. Let the teacher, 
before dismissing the class, require of each mem- 
ber to produce at the next lesson twelve origi- 
nal compound sentences with a perpendicular 
line drawn between the subject and the predi- 
cate. If the teacher will impress upon the mind 
of the pupil that, in writing a sentence, it is only 
necessary to select a subject and say something 
about it, the class will easily perform these writ- 
ten exercises. 

THIRD LESSON. 

In the third lesson the work of analysis may 
be extended one step farther — that is, the sub- 
ject and the predicate may be resolved into 
parts and these parts may be considered each 
by itself. Take the original sentence, " Mer- 
chants sell goods ;" the subject is comprised in a 
single word, "merchants," and that word is a 
name applied to a class of persons engaged in 
the business which is indicated by the word. 
The predicate is composed of two words, "sell" 
and " goods." The first word, " sell," explains 
what the "merchants" do — namely, that they sell 
or dispose of, for a consideration, something. 
" Goods" is the general name employed to de- 
scribe what the " merchants " " sell." 

Take another sentence : " Good girls study 
diligently;" here the subject is composed of two 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 24 1 

words, "good" and "girls ;" the predicate is also 
composed of two words, " study " and " dili- 
gently." The first word, " good," describes the 
kind of girls of which the affirmation is made ; 
" girls" is a name applied to a class or to a col- 
lection of individuals; "study" tells what these 
individuals do, and "diligently" tells how they 
do it. Let the teacher, if he has not before him 
a convenient number of examples in some text- 
book, provide a number of sentences, which the 
class should analyze by defining in a general 
way the office performed by each word in the 
sentence, always requiring the pupil to begin by 
dividing a sentence into subject and predicate, 
to proceed by first considering the words in the 
subject, and after that the words in the predi- 
cate, stating the office performed by each. Re- 
quire each member of the class to write six sen- 
tences in which both subject and predicate shall 
comprise two or more words. These original 
sentences may be brought to the next recitation, 
and be made subjects of analysis. 

FOURTH LESSON. 

The pupils have now learned that in the sub- 
ject of every sentence there is a word which 
stands as the name of a person or thing. The 
time has arrived when the fact may be com- 
municated to the class, that these words repre- 
21 Q 



242 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

senting persons or things are called nouns ; let 
the class point out the nouns in the sentences 
they have written, and in numerous other sen- 
tences, which the teacher may either cite from 
the text-book on grammar, or write upon the 
blackboard, or point to in the charts employed 
in the spelling- and reading-lessons. Not only 
point out the words that are nouns, but give a 
reason why they are nouns ; thus, " merchants" 
is a noun, because it is the name of a class of 
individuals. City is a noun, because it is the 
name of a large town. Potato is a noun, be- 
cause it is the name of a vegetable. Acorn is a 
noun, because it is the name of a nut. Rose is 
a noun, because it is the name of a flower. Bone 
is a noun, because it is the name of a kind of 
animal matter. Permit the pupils to give their 
own reasons, the teacher taking care simply 
that the reason is sufficient to determine the 
fact that the word is a noun. Require the mem- 
bers of the class to write twelve sentences with 
the nouns underscored. 

FIFTH LESSON. 

In the predicate of every sentence there is 
also a leading word, which describes the leading 
word in the subject by telling what it does, by 
indicating its action, state, condition or being; 
this word the teacher may inform his class is 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 243 

called a verb. By referring again to the original 
sentence, "Merchants sell goods," the word which 
describes "merchants" by stating what they 
do is " sell." It, therefore, is a verb — is a verb, 
because it describes the subject of the sentence 
by indicating action. The sentences written by 
the class should be re-examined and the verbs 
therein pointed out. They should not simply 
be pointed out as verbs, but a reason given by 
each pupil for calling the words selected verbs. 
The requirement to write twelve sentences 
should be repeated, with the additional direction 
that the verbs should be underscored. 

SIXTH LESSON. 

In the sixth lesson adjectives should be de- 
fined, pointed out and reasons given. Thus, 
" Good girls study diligently." " Good " is an ad- 
jective, because it modifies " girls " by indicating 
their character. After the sentences in the pos- 
session of the pupils have been examined and 
the adjectives therein pointed out, teachers 
should require the production by each pupil of 
twelve or more original sentences, each contain- 
ing an adjective underscored. 

The adverb, the pronoun, the preposition, the 
conjunction and the interjection should be made 
subjects of lessons, in which they should be 
treated in the same manner that has been pur- 



244 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

sued in the study of nouns and other parts of 
speech. The sentences in each exercise should 
be analyzed, and all the facts, as far as learned 
by the pupils, stated in each analysis, beginning 
with the division of the sentence into subject 
and predicate and ending with the naming of 
the part of speech to which the word belongs, 
and stating- a reason for the classification. The 
writing of sentences in illustration of every les- 
son is the most valuable part of the exercises 
given, and must, therefore, be insisted upon 
throughout the study of grammar. 

LESSONS ON THE VERB. 

In the preceding lessons the pupils are sup- 
posed to have learned to distinguish words 
found in sentences, to classify them into " parts 
of speech," and to use those parts of speech in 
the construction of original sentences. A class 
that has been thoroughly drilled in these exercises 
is prepared to proceed to the study of sentences, 
for the purpose of determining more minutely 
the relations of their parts and of the words 
composing them to each other. It has already 
been discovered that in every sentence there 
must be a subject, the principal word in which is 
a noun ; every sentence also has a predicate, 
the principal word in which is a verb describing 
the principal word in the subject. The leading 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 245 

noun in the subject of the sentence is called the 
subject of the verb which describes it. A sen- 
tence may be composed of two words, one in 
the subject and one in the predicate ; or, both 
subject and predicate may comprise a number 
of words, and hence there are incomplex and 
complex subjects and predicates. 

In analyzing a sentence, therefore, it is first 
separated into subject and predicate, and then 
each word entering into the composition of the 
subject is considered separately in order to see 
in what manner it modifies the principal word 
in that subject, and likewise every word in the 
predicate is considered separately so as to see 
in what manner it modifies the principal word 
in the predicate. 

Sentences are usually classified as declara- 
tive, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory and 
hypothetical. These should be clearly defined, 
so that pupils will be able to distinguish at sight 
to which of these classes a given sentence be- 
longs. In every sentence action or existence is 
expressed. Wherever action is expressed there 
is necessarily an agent producing the action, 
sometimes also a recipient which receives the 
effect or action produced by the agent. 

The principal verb used in a sentence ex- 
pressing action, that is received by a recipient, 
is classed as a transitive verb, and those verbs 
21* 



246 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

in sentences in which the action is limited to the 
agent, but does not extend to a recipient, are 
called intransitive verbs ; thus, in the sentence, 
"James struck Charles," the verb struck repre- 
sents the agent "James" as producing an action 
which took effect upon " Charles " ; struck is there- 
fore called a transitive verb ; it is a transitive 
verb, because the action produced by James is 
carried across, is transferred, to Charles, where 
it takes effect. In the sentence, " Boys play," 
the verb play represents an action which is 
wholly limited to the agent boys, producing that 
action, but does not represent action as taking 
effect upon a recipient ; it is therefore called an 
intransitive verb, because the action is not car- 
ried across, transferred, to a recipient. After 
this distinction has been thus drawn, a class 
should be required to write a number of sen- 
tences containing transitive verbs, and a num- 
ber containing intransitive verbs, and at the 
next recitation they should be required to state 
whether the verbs used are transitive or intran- 
sitive. 

It frequently occurs that the agent producing 
action expressed by the verb does not precede 
the verb, as in the example given above, " James 
struck Charles," but follows the verb, as is the 
case when the sentence is reversed, " Charles 
was struck by James." These two forms of the 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 247 

verb are called, by some grammarians, "voices." 
The direct form, that is, that which is preceded 
by the agent and followed by the recipient, is 
called the " active voice" of the transitive verb, 
and that in which the verb is preceded by the 
recipient, and is followed by the agent, which 
is connected to it by the preposition by, is called 
the " passive voice" of the transitive verb. In 
the sentence, " Our hopes flatter us," flatter, 
being preceded by the agent hopes and followed 
by the recipient us, is called a " transitive verb 
of the active voice." In the sentence, " We are 
flattered by our hopes," are flattered, being pre- 
ceded by the recipient we and followed by the 
agent hopes, is called a " transitive verb of the 
passive voice." The teacher should write on 
the board, or provide from books, twelve or 
more sentences containing transitive verbs. He 
should require the pupils to change these from 
one form of the transitive verb to the other, and 
to give the reason why one form is the active 
voice and why the other form is the passive 
voice in each sentence. At the close of such 
an exercise, the direction to write sentences 
should be renewed. They must be sentences 
containing transitive verbs written in both forms. 
The intransitive verb should be made the sub- 
ject of a separate lesson, which should consist 
in writing a number of sentences employing that 



248 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

form of the verb, and in analyzing these sen- 
tences in the manner already indicated. 

LESSONS ON NOUNS. 

It will be profitable to suspend the lessons on 
the verb at this point for the purpose of consid- 
ering nouns, so that the knowledge of the pupil 
can be applied in the analysis of sentences. 
The lessons must be carried on without variation 
of the principles which govern their selection 
and treatment. The division of nouns may 
be taken up in one recitation, and the distinc- 
tions of proper, common, abstract and collective 
nouns clearly marked and then illustrated in 
original sentences. Person, number, gender 
and case should each be made the subject of a 
lesson, each lesson to be illustrated by the pro- 
duction of original sentences. Following these 
distinctions of nouns, the person and number of 
the verb may be taken up and defined. 

Parsing, by which is meant the mentioning in 
order of the peculiar variations of a word and 
the relation it sustains to other words, may now 
be introduced to the class. It should be a daily 
exercise, pursued, of course, only as far as the 
knowledge of the pupil is prepared to carry it ; 
thus, at this stage of the progress of the study 
of grammar, the pupils may parse every noun 
in the sentence by stating its kind, person, num- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 249 

ber, gender and case. Verbs may be parsed by 
stating whether they are transitive or intransi- 
tive, whether of the active or passive voice, what 
nouns they agree with in person and number. 
The analysis of sentences should be continued 
throughout the study of grammar. 

Mode and Tense. — One of the most difficult 
subjects for a class in the study of English 
grammar is the distinction of modes and tenses 
of verbs. Much confusion and embarrassment 
will be avoided by taking up one thing at a time, 
and making it thoroughly familiar to the class 
by analysis, by parsing and by writing original 
sentences. Refuse absolutely to proceed one 
step beyond what is familiar ground to the whole 
class. It is of small consequence how deep and 
how dense the darkness is in front, if all is clear 
in the rear. But whenever there is a step taken 
into that darkness, the light disappears, and 
darkness is all around; then every effort to pro- 
ceed simply makes matters worse. 

In studying relative pronouns, the variations 
and distinctions of adjectives, the force of con- 
junctions, the relations of phrases, infinitives 
and participials, it is of the utmost importance 
that the principle so often insisted upon here, of 
attempting but one thing at a time, shall be ob- 
served. Classes of pupils who have arrived at 
that age, when but one or two years more can 



250 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

be given to common-school studies, may thus, 
with a degree of profit, be led through a limited 
course in English grammar. It is much better 
to proceed only so far as to the distinction of 
the parts of speech and their relative uses in the 
construction of sentences with a clear compre- 
hension, than to attempt the study of the numer- 
ous variations of words and their intricate com- 
binations and complexities in the construction 
of sentences, with no prospect of having a clear 
idea of anything, though a text-book shall have 
been gone through with. 

From what has been said on the subject of 
teaching grammar, it will be seen that the 
method here recommended supersedes the es- 
tablished practice in nearly all schools, public or 
private, of all grades. The basis of the study 
as here set forth is the sentence, and one feature 
or characteristic is taken up at a time and dis- 
posed of, and the lesson given one day is illus- 
trated at the next recitation in a number of 
original sentences prepared by the pupils. 

It is not necessary to study grammar in order 
to acquire the ability to speak and write cor- 
rectly. The great masses, who receive only 
so much education as can be given in the pub- 
lic schools, do not learn to speak and write 
their " mother tongue" by the study of grammar. 
This branch of learning, therefore, in point of 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 25 I 

utility, takes rank far below arithmetic, which in 
turn ranks below the material sciences. If some 
author, comprehending the work necessary to 
be done, and possessing that courage which 
would permit him to depart from received 
methods, would treat the subject of English 
grammar logically and concisely in a text-book 
for the public schools, there would then be less 
objection to introducing it there as a study; un- 
til that shall be done, its introduction is more 
likely to result in confusion of ideas and distaste 
for study than in any good to the girls and 
boys in the public schools. Skillful teachers 
may do much to compensate for the short-com- 
ings of book-makers ; nevertheless, the introduc- 
tion of a branch of learning in the schools of the 
people that, up to this time, has utterly baffled 
its advocates and authors in their countless efforts 
to arrange it properly in lessons for juvenile 
learners is, to say the least, an act of very ques- 
tionable propriety. 



T^Tm^^^l^V^ f/^l^^^ , W^^^^^L''^\ 



CHAPTER XII. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 




ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE. 

UMAN anatomy, which is the part of 
the general science of anatomy that 
may appropriately, nay, that should, be 
introduced into public schools as a 
study, treats of the structure of the human body. 
Physiology is a term applied to the science 
which treats of the uses of the different organs 
that enter into the anatomy of the body. Hy- 
giene relates to the laws by which the healthful 
action of these parts is governed and pre- 
served. 

The human body consists of systems of or- 
gans. There is a system of bones, a system of 
muscles, a system of digestive organs, a system 
of circulatory organs, a system of respiratory 
organs and a system of nerves. There are 
secretory organs, lymphatic vessels, vocal or- 
gans, organs of taste, of smell, of sight and of 
hearing. These several systems entering into 

252 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 253 

the composition of the human body are to such 
an extent distinct from each other, that they 
may be taken up and studied without reference 
to any particular order. It is immaterial whether 
the bones, the muscles, the digestive organs or 
the circulatory or respiratory organs are studied 
first, but it is material that each system, as it is 
taken up, shall be thoroughly studied and clearly 
understood before another is presented. 

In order to obtain a knowledge of the frame- 
work of the human body, it may be well to be- 
gin the study of anatomy at the system of 
bones. A teacher may procure specimens of 
bones of animals ; he may obtain these fresh 
from the butcher-shop, so as to show how they 
are bound together at the joints by ligaments. 
Describing the joint in the class, he can dis- 
course upon its structure without any especial 
reference as to whether the muscular system, 
the tendons and ligaments have already been 
studied. He can explain at the time sufficient 
for the purpose of the demonstrations, and show 
how bones are bound together, and how mus- 
cles are attached to them. He may explain the 
composition of bone, the effect heat and cold, 
age and exposure, have on it. 

Numerous text-books on anatomy admirably 
treat of bones, their formation, combination and 
place in the human frame, and describe the 
22 



254 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

bones of each part separately and clearly. For 
a class supplied with these books, the teacher 
need only be careful to provide suitable illustra- 
tions that will enforce the lesson upon the 
comprehension of the pupils, and enable them 
to carry the ideas of the school-room from the 
books out into fields of practical observation. 
This method must be continued, not only in the 
lesson on bones, but also, through the lessons 
on muscles, circulatory, respiratory and other 
organs. 

Muscles, as developed on the leg of a rabbit, 
a squirrel, a frog or a chicken, will admirably 
illustrate the manner in which the fibres are 
bound together in bundles and how they are 
extended into tendons and attached to the liga- 
ments at the joints. 

A set of anatomical charts should be at hand, 
from which the teacher can demonstrate the 
relations of different parts in the bony structure, 
the functions or uses of bones, and give to his 
class a much more correct idea of the relative 
position of the parts of the human system than 
he would otherwise be able to do. How bones 
are affected by habits of sitting, walking and 
dressing should be explained at the end of a 
series of lessons on this subject. 

The Muscles. — The lessons on the muscles of 
the human body, their structure and arrange- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 255 

ment should be conducted very much in the 
same manner as are those on the bones. No 
part of this science can be profitably studied by 
a class on the question-and-answer method. 
Pupils should be required to describe parts of 
systems, as the bones or muscles of the head, 
the bones or muscles of the leg, the feet, the 
arm, or of the hand. One pupil may describe 
the bones of a certain part, another the muscles, 
and a third may state the functions or uses of 
the bones and muscles. As the class advances, 
the veins and arteries, the nerves, the skin, and 
the hygienic principles that govern the develop- 
ment and health of the parts and organs under 
consideration may also be described by the 
members of the class. 

This whole subject has been so practically 
presented by the authors of text-books, that 
there is little occasion for doing more here than 
to urge, most earnestly upon the school authori- 
ties and teachers, its introduction as one of the 
branches of learning to be studied in every 
school. 

The study of arithmetic may be cut short, 
grammar may be altogether excluded, exercises 
in reading may be less frequent, but the study 
of anatomy, physiology and hygiene, the study 
of our own bodies, the organs of which they are 
composed, the nature and uses of these organs, 



256 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

how to secure their development, how to pre- 
serve them in health, how to treat them in case 
of accident or disease, is of so much and of such 
vital importance to all men in every condition 
of life, that it should be a work of supererogation 
to plead for its introduction as a special study in 
the schools of the people. 

NATURAL • PHILOSOPHY. 

Natural Philosophy, so far as it treats of the 
application and extent of forces met with in the 
operations of life, should be made the subject of 
study in public schools. The power of water, 
the power of steam, the power of air, of elec- 
tricity, and the power of mechanical contrivances 
everywhere encountered, should be made famil- 
iar to the young, so that they may be understood, 
whether they are to be used, resisted or con- 
trolled. The possession of apparatus to illus- 
trate principles in Natural Philosophy is abso- 
lutely necessary, if any considerable amount of 
good is to be accomplished by these lessons. 
Where such apparatus is not supplied by the 
school authorities, teachers, by the exercise of 
an ordinary amount of skill and ingenuity, may 
contrive pieces of apparatus that will be useful 
in illustrating many lessons. A cord and two 
or three pulleys, two or three small spheres, 
rin^s, spheroids and small cog-wheels can be 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 2tf 

obtained at a hardware store or at some ma- 
chine-shop, and will serve to demonstrate 
many of the most interesting and useful propo- 
sitions. 

If there are manufacturing establishments in 
the vicinity of the schoolhouse, the teacher 
should take his pupils thither and explain the 
mechanical forces employed in the operations 
carried on there. If water supplies the power, 
lessons on hydrostatics may be illustrated; 
if steam, then the steam-engine, its parts and 
its mode of working, the extent of its power 
and the contrivances for applying its forces to 
turning machinery, should be explained. The 
differences between stationary and locomotive 
engines, between high-pressure and low-pres- 
sure engines, can be practically studied in the 
presence of these machines. The use of the 
blackboard to sketch the parts of engines and 
machines should be resorted to frequently, so 
that before pupils are taken to observe the 
actual working of a steam-engine they will be 
conversant with the internal arrangement of 
the parts and the application of steam to them. 
The power of water-currents and air-currents 
may be frequently observed at all seasons of 
the year and at all places. It is only required 
that the teacher will seize upon the occasions, 
and turn the phenomena to practical use as illus 

22* R 



258 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

trations of the principles set forth in the text- 
books. 

In the study of Natural Philosophy the con- 
stant aim should be to carry the principles ob- 
tained in the books out into actual operations. 
The use of the lever is so common that pupils 
will be delighted to understand the relative 
strength and force of the mechanical power, that 
may be gained by the use of a lever in different 
positions. 

This branch of the physical sciences has been 
so successfully treated in text-books that teach- 
ers will find little difficulty in arranging lessons 
systematically for the instruction of classes, and 
if these lessons are thoroughly taught — not re- 
cited by systems of questions and answers, but 
fully explained and illustrated by such apparatus 
as the teacher may be able to procure — and if 
the principles that are learned are afterward 
recognized in actual use — that is, if pupils are 
trained to determine in their minds the philos- 
ophy of action as observed in manufacturing 
operations, in agricultural operations, in all the 
motions and rests where mechanical forces are 
applied, — this will be made one of the most in- 
teresting branches of learning taught in the 
public schools. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 259 



CHEMISTRY. 

The science which treats of the nature of the 
elements, the laws of their combinations, their 
affinities and uses, is so closely allied to every- 
thing that is within us and around us, that its 
elementary principles should be made the sub- 
jects of study in the public schools. It is ad- 
mitted that chemistry, in its largest sense, can- 
not be successfully studied without the use of 
apparatus and appliances far beyond what can 
be supplied to teachers in the public schools ; 
nevertheless, the names of the solid and fluid 
elements, their general nature and uses which 
enter into the composition of the human body 
and of the earth, into all solid and liquid matter, 
may be taught to pupils who receive their edu- 
cation in the public schools. The names of the 
metals, their characteristics and their uses, the 
names and properties of the elements of the 
most familiar compounds, as water, air and salt, 
will be studied with pleasure and profit. The 
relations of acids and alkalies, the effects of heat 
on all matter, the effects of sunlight, of air, of 
water, in their numerous combinations and rela- 
tions, may be made subjects of observation and 
explanation that will be within the comprehension 
of such pupils as are found in the public-school 
classes. 



26o ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

If apparatus can be procured to illustrate the 
effects of electricity, to generate gases by simple 
methods, and to perform some of the most sim- 
ple and striking experiments with the natural 
elements, the use of such apparatus will con- 
tribute greatly to the interest and value of the 
instruction. If it is found impracticable to intro- 
duce the study of chemistry into mixed schools, 
a teacher may provide himself with suitable 
text-books on this subject, from which he can 
prepare short discourses or lectures on the most 
important lesson in the science. Such lectures 
can be delivered to the whole school at appointed 
intervals, and should be followed by questions 
on the facts and principles set forth therein. 
By this method, during each school-term, many 
of the important principles may be taught to a 
school. The pupils may thus be led into habits 
of observation and research, that will enable 
them to read understanding^ and to discourse 
intelligently on the operations of nature. It is 
admitted that such instruction is likely to be 
superficial, yet it is the only instruction on these 
subjects the large majority of boys and girls in 
the United States can possibly receive in their 
school-days. Those whose education will not 
extend beyond the public-school curriculum will 
be greatly benefited thereby, though it be super- 
ficial, and those who are so fortunate as to re- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 



26l 



ceive the advantages of a higher education will 
not be affected injuriously by this preliminary 
and general view of the elements of sciences 
which, in their subsequent progress, they will 
be required to study more minutely and thor- 
oughly. 





CHAPTER XIII. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 

PENMANSHIP. 

HE suggestion made in the chapter on 
teaching the alphabet, that every child 
in school should be provided with a 
slate and pencil, is here repeated. 
Children accustomed to the use of a pencil in 
forming the letters of the alphabet, and in sketch- 
ing pictures on their slates, attain a consider- 
able degree of skill in the art of drawing before 
regular lessons in penmanship are taken up. 
Though letters, as used in writing, differ very 
widely in form, there are really but few simple 
elementary forms employed in the art of pen- 
manship. The practice of every child should 
begin by exercises on these simple elements, 
taking the simplest of them first. The method 
formerly pursued was to set copies for children 
in straight lines, and after a certain degree of 
facility was acquired in forming these lines, 

262 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 263 

copies of hooks were set, and these were followed 
by ovals. When such copies are given without 
any explanations, they are arbitrary, and chil- 
dren fail to see the "benefit to be derived from 
marking over many sheets of paper in straight 
lines, hooks and O's, but if the teacher will ex- 
plain and illustrate on the blackboard that the 
straight line and the hook and the oval are real- 
ly parts of letters, and that one or more of these 
parts are used in the formation of every letter 
in the alphabet, the lesson will be invested with 
a degree of interest that cannot otherwise be 
given. 

Though the slate and pencil are admirably 
adapted to the execution of elementary lessons 
in drawing, they should not be employed in les- 
sons in penmanship. The object of these les- 
sons is to exercise the pupils in forming letters 
on paper with pen and ink. Children should 
not be permitted to attempt to combine the ele- 
ments of letters into letters before they are able 
to form the elements with a reasonable deeree 
of accuracy and regularity. 

Few schools are now without a series of copy- 
books projected upon one of the numerous sys- 
tems of penmanship that have been constructed 
for the education of children in this art. The 
old custom of setting copies by the teacher is 
superseded. The copy-books now in use are 



264 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

arranged on a progressive system, beginning 
with the simplest elements and rising by a grad- 
ual system of combinations up to a regular prac- 
tice in forming words and sentences. The 
teacher is, therefore, required simply to criticise 
intelligently the efforts of individual pupils, 
pointing out errors in such way as will indicate 
the difference between faulty and correct pen 
manship. 

Lesson on the Blackboard. — Before the writing- 
lessons for any term are begun, and frequently 
during the term, the following principles should 
be explained by the use of the blackboard : All 
the small letters found in writing are compound- 
ed of three elementary principles — the i y the o 
and the loop. The i principle is employed in 
forming z, u t w, r, t, n, m, v, x and s. The prin 
ciple is employed in forming o, c and e ; by a 
combination of the i and principles a and d are 
formed. The loop principle is used in combina- 
tion with the i or the 0, and enters into the forms 
of /, d, k, k, >', y, z, g, a, /and p. 

This explanation of the forms of letters indi- 
cates a proper arrangement of progressive les- 
sons. 

The first series of lessons should be on the i 
principle in its variations and combinations with 
itself. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 265 

The second series of lessons should be on the o 
principle and its modifications. 

The third series of lessons should be on the 
combinations of the i and o principles with each 
other. 

The fourth series of lessons should be on the 
loop principle above the line, below the line, and 
a combination of these positions. 

The fifth series of lessons should be on the 
combination of the loop with the i. 

The sixth series of lessons should be on the 
combination of the loop with the o. 

The exercises in these lessons will be in letter- 
forming ; the letters are next to be combined in 
words. The first series of copies should consist 
of words requiring the use of only the i and o 
principles. After pupils have acquired reason- 
able skill in writing such words, copies of words 
requiring the loop principle may be given. 

Capital letters should be taken up after pupils 
are able to write words distinctly in small letters. 
Capital letters are also constructed of three ele- 
ments: the chirographic curve, or line of beauty; 
the stem, or T principle, and the O. The curve 
enters into the forms of A, N, W, P y B, R, S, 
L, /, J. The Centers into the forms of T, F y 
Z, H and K. The O enters into the forms of 
O, Q E, G y D, Q, V, W, X and Y. This clas- 
sification suggests three series of lessons in the 

23 



266 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

elements and their uses. These lessons must 
be so arranged as to introduce one new element 
or combination of elements at a time. Finally 
will come lessons arranged progressively, in 
which capitals are used with small letters in 
framing words and sentences. 

It is especially important that the teacher 
would enforce habits of neatness in penmanship, 
in the care and preservation of copy-books. 

Three things are to be attained in lessons in 
penmanship : — First, the ability to write legibly ; 
secondly, to write rapidly; thirdly, to write 
neatly. Legibility is an essential requisite, for 
what cannot be read had better not be written. 
Letters should be formed regularly, not crowded 
together nor too widely separated, but uniformly 
spaced. 

For practical purposes rapidity is a very de- 
sirable acquisition. For all business purposes 
this accomplishment stands much higher than 
that of beauty in style of execution. The abil- 
ity to write in that regularity of form which gives 
great beauty to executions in penmanship is 
useful for technical, special and professional pur- 
poses. In business affairs, however, a general 
neatness in the appearance of the written page 
is what is required. This will be attained only 
by forming letters regular in size and uniform 
in style, keeping the page clean, writing every 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 267 

word legibly, spacing all words regularly and 
preserving a harmony in the shading of letters, 
so that one part of the page shall not appear 
black with ink and another part faint and indis- 
tinct. Whilst this sort of neatness must be in- 
sisted upon, the teacher must avoid the extreme 
of sacrificing rapidity of writing to the demand 
for skill in extreme beauty of execution. Ra- 
pidity is of more use to the mass of writers than 
the ability to write beautifully. 

Freedom in the use of the pen is attained by 
frequent practice in forming large letters requir- 
ing the movement of the whole arm. Exercises 
of this kind are provided in the copy-books of 
all the systems of penmanship now in use. 
Wherever the teacher discovers a want of free- 
dom of motion in the execution of any pupil, he 
may correct this by requiring such pupil to re- 
turn to the practice of these general arm-and- 
finger movements. 

DRAWING. 

In point of time drawing precedes penman- 
ship. By the use of the slate and pencil small 
children are taught to draw from copies on 
charts or op the blackboard, to form at first the 
simplest letters of the alphabet, and to rise grad- 
ually to the execution of the most complex. 
They learn to sketch pictures of animals, plants, 



268 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

articles of furniture, diagrams, trees, flowers, 
maps and the parts of machinery. These les- 
sons may be continued after the children have 
passed from this simple use of the slate and 
pencil to the study of mathematics and the sci- 
ences. In the study of geography, the recom- 
mendation has already been made, that map- 
drawing should be regularly practiced. In the 
study of mathematics, diagrams are frequently 
drawn. 

Teachers should be prepared to instruct all 
pupils in public schools in elementary rules and 
principles of drawing. A knowledge of these 
principles, and skill in the art of using them, 
will prove to be valuable attainments in many 
positions in life. Mechanics constantly employ 
this art in their business ; carpenters, engineers, 
architects and machinists are draughtsmen, or 
must employ draughtsmen ; physicians, miners, 
farmers, and even lawyers and clergymen, will 
very often find it useful to be able to convey by 
sketches and drawings, what it might be very 
difficult to make plain by verbal explanations. • 

All drawings consist of straight lines. It is, 
therefore, necessary to acquire, first, skill in draw- 
ing such lines. 

The first series of lessons should be on straight 
lines. First, simply a straight line ; then a com- 
bination of two straight lines in various forms, 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 269 

as meeting at right angles, meeting at acute an- 
gles, meeting so as to form one angle, meeting 
so as to form two angles, crossing each other so 
as to form four right angles, crossing so as to 
form acute and obtuse angles. Another les- 
son may be given on combinations of three 
straight lines, another on combinations of four 
straight lines in various forms. These lessons 
may be extended as the age and skill of the 
pupils shall require more complex exercises. 

A second series of lessons should be given on 
curve lines, as semi-circles or smaller arcs of 
circles, on forming complete circles, forming 
ovals, also combinations of curve lines, drawing 
curve lines parallel to each other and crossing 
each other in every conceivable form. 

A third series of lessons may be given in com- 
binations of straight and curve lines. After 
this, pictures of real objects should be given to 
be copied, with instructions how to proceed. 
The objects at first should be simple, as doors, 
gates, boxes, ladders, benches, chairs, houses, 
and the like ; gradually more complicated les- 
sons may be given, such as drawing pictures of 
animals, plants and machines, and finally lessons 
on drawing pictures of the objects themselves. 

Lessons on drawing, arranged progressively, 
have been published for the use of schools, and 
these are usually accompanied by a series of 

23* 



270 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

models. The picture is. found in the book, 
which the pupil may copy, and after such exer- 
cises shall have continued for a sufficient length 
of time, the pictures are removed and the ob- 
jects themselves presented. Pupils are re- 
quired to make pictures of these objects. This 
is a valuable exercise, and is what is required 
in actual business. In the application of the art 
of drawing, the object is represented either in 
reality or in the perceptions, and a picture of it 
is to be produced on paper or tablet. Where 
such regularly-prepared lessons are not pro- 
vided, the teacher may improvise lessons and 
present a number of suitable objects, of which 
pictures can be made by the pupils on slate or 
paper. 

This is one of the branches of learning that 
may become so fascinating to teacher and pupil 
as to encroach upon the time that would be 
more profitably expended in the acquisition of 
other and more useful knowledge. Only the 
elementary principles should be taught in the 
public schools, and sufficient practice given to 
attain a reasonable facility in sketching simple 
objects. This will be sufficient for ordinary 
unprofessional uses. Persons, who enter voca- 
tions wherein this art is to be very generally 
employed, will find it necessary to study it be- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 27 1 

yond the limits of what is practicable in the 
public schools. 

MUSIC. 

Vocal music has become one of the essential 
public-school branches. Music in all schools is 
necessary for purposes of recreation, for pur- 
poses of discipline, for purposes of culture. It 
is more useful as an exercise than as a study, 
but in order to enable pupils to engage in the 
delightful exercise of singing, some system of 
instruction whereby they will acquire the ability 
to read music at sight must be adopted. 

It is not more difficult to teach pupils to un- 
derstand musical notation than it is to. teach 
them to understand arithmetical notation. The 
terms employed in music are similar to those 
employed in reading. Every musical sound has 
pitch, length and force. The pitch of a musical 
sound is indicated by its position on the musical 
staff; the lower sounds are placed on the lower 
part of the staff, and the higher sounds on the 
upper part of the staff. Let a teacher draw five 

parallel lines on the blackboard, thus 



These lines and spaces represent pitch in or- 
dinary musical composition. A character called 
a note is employed to represent each sound; 
the position of the note on the staff indicates its 



2?2 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

pitch. Let the teacher write notes on different 
parts of the staff, beginning below and rising 
from the lower line to the upper line. Then let 
him sound with his voice the pitch of the tone 
'indicated by one of these notes ; then the pitch 
indicated by another, and thus ascend and de- 
scend the scale slowly, giving the same time 
and force to each note, varying it only in pitch. 
Pupils will readily understand the difference be- 
tween high notes and low notes, and easily exe- 
cute the distinction in vocal efforts. 

The teacher may explain that the lines and 
intervening spaces in the diagram on the board 
are designated by certain letters of the alphabet, 
numbering from A to G. These letters should 
be written upon the diagram on the blackboard 
in their proper positions as found in musical 
composition. 

If the teacher will call the attention of the 
pupils to the fact that the letters occupying the 
spaces in this diagram spell the word face, he 
will enable them to fix the position of the 
letters on the staff correctly and durably on 
their minds. The four fingers and the thumb 
of the hand may be cited as an illustration 
of the musical staff; beginning with the little 
finger and the one next to it, placing " F " in 
that space, "A" in the second space, " C " in the 
third space, and " E " in the fourth space. The 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 273 

letters on the lines are the letters of the alpha- 
bet which, when written in their natural order, 
come between those which are found in the 
spaces. Thus, in the alphabet after f comes g, 
after a is 6, after c is d and after e \sf, which is 
found on the upper line as well as in the lower 
space of the staff. What is of more importance, 
however, to the pupil, and of more practical use 
in school, is a knowledge of the musical scale, 
running from the keynote below through the 
scale of the octave to the keynote above. It 
will be found advantageous to designate the 
tones in the scale by numerals, beginning at the 
keynote and calling it i, and writing the figures 
in regular order, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and indicating 
the keynote at the top of the scale by the figure 
8. Write on the natural scale on the black- 
board an octave of notes, from C on the ledger 
line below to C in the third space ; write on the 
left-hand side of these notes the numerals from 
1 to 8 ; on the right hand side of the notes, 
write the names usually given to them in the 
scale ; thus : 



I 



From this diagram the pupils may learn that, 
whilst absolute pitch is indicated by position on 
the musical staff, relative pitch — that is, how 

s 



274 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

much lwher or how much lower one note is 
than another of a known pitch — may be repre- 
sented by numerals and by syllables. By thor- 
oughly enforcing this idea of representing rela- 
tive pitch by numerals, the teacher will make it 
possible for his school to read music rapidly that 
is written upon the blackboard in numerals. 

Length of Sounds. — The length of sounds is 
indicated by the form of note. By reference to 
any piece of musical composition, it will be seen 
that the notes on the staff vary in form ; by sing- 
ing the piece the teacher may illustrate the mean- 
ing of these differences of form. Pupils must 
be taught to distinguish between whole notes, 
half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and six- 
teenth notes ; this can be accomplished best by 
the use of the blackboard. The principles of 
measure and time, employed in writing and exe- 
cuting compositions in music, can also be fully 
demonstrated by the use of blackboard diagrams 
and the voice. 

The transposition of the scale by the use of 
sharps and flats can be explained so as to be 
comprehended by pupils at the age of ten years. 

For school-room uses it is not necessary to 
understand the transposition of scales. Explain 
the meaning of the term "keynote;" it is i, or 
"do," in the major scale. If, therefore, pupils 
are able to find the keynote of the scale of a 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 2?$ 

piece of music, they can without difficulty read 
the notes in the piece, giving to each tone its 
proper pitch and length. The teacher may, 
therefore, state without explantion that, when 
one sharp is found on the staff at the beginning 
of a piece of music, the keynote is on g ; when 
two sharps are placed there, the keynote is on 
d ; when three sharps are used, the keynote is 
on a, and when four sharps are used, the key- 
note is on e. One sharp, g ; two sharps, d ; 
three sharps, a ; four sharps, e : " God Deluged 
All Earth." Here are four words the first let- 
ters of which indicate the keynotes in sharps. 
The use of flats gives keynotes as follows : one 
flat,/*/ two flats, b; three flats, e ;' four flats, a: 
"Father Baker Eats Apples." These four 
words in their initial letters indicate the key- 
notes in flats. 

An extract, or complete piece of music, should 
be written on the blackboard. Suppose it is 
part or the whole of the familiar church tune, 
"Old Hundred." 



i 



s^s^a 



st 



3 

The teacher proceeds to explain : First, that 
the cleff indicates the position of the letters en the 
staff; secondly, that the presence of one sharp 
indicates the keynote is on g; third, that the 



2j6 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

figures indicate double measure, two half notes 
in each measure. After these facts have been 
explained, question the class as follows : In what 
key is this piece of music written ? What is the 
name of the first note ? The name of the second 
note? Of the third? The fourth? Fifth? Sixth? 
Seventh ? Eighth ? The answers may be given 
in concert, individually, or both. In what kind 
of notes is this piece written ? Are the tones 
represented all of the same length? Why? 
The class should repeat the notes by name until 
all the members can do it rapidly. The teacher 
may then sound the keynote, do, and require 
the class to sound it with him. Sound it several 
times ; then sing, in slow, regular time, all the 
notes on the staff, thus : Do-do-si-la-sol-do-re- 
mi. The correct pitch of each note must be 
given in the tone of every pupil. This lesson 
should be practiced by the whole school until 
every pupil can sing it correctly by naming the 
syllables. It should then be sung in the syllable 
la, thus: la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. Words of a hymn 
may now be applied to these tones. The whole 
school may sing in full, harmonious voice, " Be 
thou, O God, exalted high." The teacher may 
now complete the tune and exercise the school 
in singing it. 

The pitch of the several tones in this tune 
have thus far been represented by position on 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 277 

the staff; they may be represented by numerals. 
The keynote is i of the scale, and other numer- 
als up to 8 are used to indicate the position of 
notes in the scale. The tune may, therefore, be 
written as follows: i | i 7 | 6 5 | 1 2 | 3. In the 
tune "Old Hundred" the notes are all of the 
same length, but if notes of different lengths are 
found in a tune, a teacher can, by dots and 
points over the numerals, indicate the length of 
sounds. Every tune is written on the basis of 
some note, as whole, half, quarter. Some one 
length of note is, therefore, of more frequent 
occurrence; using that note as a standard of 
length, only those that are longer or shorter need 
be marked. The vertical lines drawn at inter- 
vals between the numerals also aid in determin- 
ing at sight the time to be given to notes between 
them. The active powers of perception and 
imitation will enable pupils to catch a tune, as it 
were, intuitively. If a tune is written in numer- 
als, and the teacher sings a short division of it, 
requiring pupils to repeat it several times, then 
another and another, until all the parts of the 
tune have been sung, the whole school will take 
up the piece and sing it through by note, by the 
syllable la, and afterward in appropriate verse. 
Words of tunes may be repeated by the teacher 
so slowly that the pupils can write them on paper, 
to be preserved for use. 



24 



2J% ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

Every school should be provided with music- 
books containing suitable tunes ; frequently, 
however, this will not be the case, and when 
books are present other tunes may be added to 
the supply by the free use of the numeral system 
of notation. As pupils advance the general 
principles of rhythm, melody and dynamics may 
be explained and illustrated in singing. What 
is chiefly wanted, however, is exercise in sing- 
ing, the instruction necessary to enable pupils 
to read music may be given in such simple and 
easy lessons as not to mar the pleasure of sing- 
ing, and to an extent that will suffice for all 
practical uses in school, at home and in church. 

In giving music lessons a teacher must be 
vivacious, cheerful and of good heart. The 
soul of music must find lodgment in his soul ; 
his countenance must say to the school so un- 
mistakably as to require no interpreter, "It is 
good to sing." " As in water face answereth 
to face, so the heart of man to man." The lit- 
tle hearts and the larger hearts will join in the 
cheerful exercise of singing if pleasantly invited 
and cheerfully led. 



■hi 



cs ti3fJB? 



CHAPTER XIV. 
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.— Continued. 




HISTORY. 

ISTORY may be studied by first taking 
a comprehensive and general view 
of the historic field, and proceeding 
thence to the study of special or local 
history, or beginning with local history, by study- 
ing fragments, and rising through the history of 
governments, nations and periods to general 
history. Either method may be adopted. For 
advanced pupils and for adult readers the first 
named is the natural course. Children may be 
interested in fragments of history, in biographies 
of distinguished men, in stories and incidents of 
localities, at an age when general history would 
not be relished and could not be comprehended. 
By whatever method history is studied, it is 
important that, at some period in the study of 
fragments, the epochs, the periods, the history of 
nations, governments and people, by some sys- 
tem of general and comprehensive classification, 

279 



280 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

be so arranged and bound together as to enable 
pupils to remember the relative order of historic 
events, such as the founding, the progress and 
the fall of nations and governments, without the 
necessity of recollecting arbitrary dates. 

Facts in history are not governed by recog- 
nized laws that bring them under a classification 
that determines their place in the progress of 
events. They are not susceptible of the close 
and systematic classification that is attainable in 
the material sciences ; they may, nevertheless, 
be so connected in great cycles as to aid the 
student in determining, instantly, at what particu- 
lar epoch or period the history of any particular 
nation or people or events belongs. Whether, 
therefore, the pupils have prosecuted the study 
of history by the first or second method above 
indicated, a general survey must be made for 
the purpose of classifying and combining historic 
events in the order of their occurrence. 

If it is proposed to study history by the first 
method, then the general survey should be in- 
troduced at the beginning. If history has been 
or is to be studied by the second method, the 
general view should not be presented until a 
sufficient number of fragments are possessed by 
the student to make classification desirable. 

The beginnings of few nations are known to 
history. Until nations have assumed some form 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 28 1 

peculiar to themselves, and have asserted some 
individuality distinguishing them from neighbor- 
ing nations, they do not enter the horizon of 
history. Before they have reached that period 
centuries may have passed, of the events of 
which no records are preserved. 

The prehistoric period is the age of fable ; 
obscurity and darkness reign over the mutations 
of men and their transactions. The science of 
language has recently passed the boundary of 
this unexplored region, and has penetrated the 
hitherto impenetrable darkness of the ages of 
unrecorded changes. It has discovered many 
ancient landmarks, erected by migrating nations 
and peoples and languages, and from these 
monuments of the unknown past, philology has 
suspended ever-burning lamps to guide students 
of history to the fountains of historic events, the 
cradle of races of men, the beginnings of civiliza- 
tion, whence issued the streams that flowed out 
to all parts of the earth. 

The developments of the science of language 
has resulted in the discovery that there was a 
great prehistoric cycle of civilization, whose cen- 
tre and beginnings were in Upper Asia. A peo- 
ple and language, the parent of all nations and 
of all tongues in times immemorial, dwelt in this 
region and became the ancestors of Indians, 
Persians, Celts, Germans, Slavons, Italians and 

24* 



282 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

Greeks. Out from this centre of population 
flowed successive waves of migration. Guided 
by the lamps of philology, which thus light up 
numerous stations on the highways of nations, 
we are able to pass far beyond the true historic 
period and arrive at what seems to have been 
the cradle of all nations. Tracing the lines of 
migrations backward, it is found that these all 
point to the table-lands of Armenia in Asia, as 
the place of genesis, whence issued the families 
of all nations. 

The first great body that emigrated from Ar- 
menia into Europe was the Celts, who passed 
over the northern parts of Europe ; this wave 
was followed by the Teutonic or German emi- 
gration. The Germans pushed the Celts for- 
ward to the extreme western bounds of the 
continent. Following the Teutonic came the 
Slavonic wave of migration, which in turn pushed* 
the Germans westward and southward, and 
made the whole of Northern Europe the home 
of the Slavons. The Celts were pushed out 
into the islands on the western coast of Europe, 
and the Germans settled in the central and 
western parts of the continent. These three 
peoples together are the immediate ancestors 
of the nations and languages of Northern Eu- 
rope. 

The second succession of waves of migration 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 283 

spread o>/er Southern Europe. First came the 
Pelasgi, and secondly the Greeks. The first of 
these, the ancestors of all the Italian races, were 
pushed forward to the Pillars of Hercules, and 
spread over the southern part of Europe, on 
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The 
second wave settled in South-eastern Europe 
and its people were the fathers of the Greeks. 
The migrations into other parts of Asia and 
Africa from Armenia are not so distinctly 
marked. The population seems to have spread 
out in great circles, widening its territory, rather 
than projecting distinct currents. 

The languages of the East are of one family, 
of which the Hebrew may be taken as a type. 
The languages of the West were more diversi- 
fied. The Celtic became the foundation of the 
English, the Teutonic of the German, the Sla- 
vonic of the language of the Russians. In the 
South, Latin and its offshoots and the Greek 
were the typical languages. 

In receiving its population, therefore, Asia and 
Northern Europe were in advance of Southern 
Europe, but in the development of civilization 
and the cultivation of the arts and sciences, 
Eastern and Southern Europe were in advance 
of their older neighbors. 

The history of a nation begins at that epoch 
in its existence in which civilization develops an 



284 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

individuality, that asserts itself as a unity. His- 
tory, therefore, treats of the progress of civiliza- 
tion from country to country, and from people 
to people, rather than of the dissemination of 
population over the earth. Civilization first came 
into historic recognition on the southern shores 
of the Mediterranean Sea; it passed around the 
east end of the Mediterranean and along the 
northern shore until it reached the Atlantic. 
This completed the first great historic cycle — 
the cycle of the Mediterranean civilization. 

This historic unity is sometimes called "An- 
cient History," or the " History of the Ancient 
World." It is the history of civilization among 
the Mediterranean nations — the history of the 
Egyptians dwelling on the southern shore, the 
history of the Syrians on the east coast and 
stretching inland to the Euphrates, and the his- 
tory of the twin nations, the Greeks and the 
Italians. The successive centres of the civili- 
zation of this cycle were at Thebes, Carthage, 
Athens and Rome. The nations represented 
by these culminating points, and embraced in 
the Mediterranean cycle, were the first to attain 
a noble civilization, and to elaborate and de- 
velop the distinguishing qualities of human na- 
ture, which have since their first evolvement 
characterized all civilized peoples. 

After the lapse of centuries new peoples in 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 285 

the North loomed into the horizon of history, 
overran the nations of the south and transferred 
the centre of civilization from the Mediterranean 
to the Atlantic Ocean. A new epoch in the 
mutations of nations is reached ; out of the per- 
ished and the perishing civilization of the Medi- 
terranean nations buds a new era. A new 
cycle of culture is formed, and the Atlantic na- 
tions become its theatre of influence. This new 
cycle is usually entitled " Modern History." In 
it, civilization was developed in the Atlantic 
nations, or those nations settled north of the 
Mediterranean zone, and who found their out- 
lets on the Atlantic ; passing northward on the 
eastern shore of the ocean, it reached all the 
peoples on the mainland and on the islands off 
the coast. At the close of the fifteenth century 
of the Christian era, civilization was carried 
across the Atlantic, and, after the lapse of fully 
one hundred years, made lodgment on the west- 
ern coast of that ocean. 

All the civilized nations of Europe vied with 
each other in efforts to settle and civilize Amer- 
ica. Two centuries of earnest and intelligent 
labor have been given to this work. From the 
seacoast civilization spread inward until the 
whole continent was explored, and states, prov- 
inces and governments were established where, 
at the beginning of the sixteenth century, sav- 



286 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

age tribes of men roamed through an unbroken 
wilderness. This overspreading of Western and 
Northern Europe and of America, bringing the 
nations dwelling there under the influence of 
civilization, constitutes the Atlantic cycle in his- 
tory. The Pacific cycle has already begun. 
Historic civilization has established itself on the 
American shore of the Pacific ocean, and is 
making rapid inroads upon the ancient exclu- 
siveness of the nations residing in Eastern Asia. 
When the arts and sciences, known to civilized 
nations, shall have found a welcome in the isl- 
ands of the Pacific, in the nations of Southern 
and Eastern Africa, in India, China and Japan, 
the Pacific cycle will be complete. 

All historic epochs and periods are embraced 
in these three great cycles, the Mediterranean, 
the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is only neces- 
sary, therefore, for students of history to carry 
in their minds the date at which civilization be- 
gan on the Mediterranean, the date at which it 
was transferred to the Atlantic and the date at 
which it reached the Pacific, and the course it 
took in its progress on the shores of these great 
waters, in order to determine, generally, at what 
time any nation, or the people embraced within 
the geographical limits thus described, became a 
civilized and an historic people. 

Three comprehensive charts, constructed on 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 287 

this principle, may be so arranged as to indicate 
the path of civilization in its course among na- 
tions, in passing through these cycles, and note 
the dates of marked periods and epochs. Such 
charts could be used as the bases of a series of 
lessons in history, so as to determine at once a 
classification that would be an invaluable aid to 
the student, placing before him connectedly a sy- 
nopsis of the history of the several nations that 
belong to each cycle. With this clear compre- 
hension of a general survey of the historic field, 
pupils will have little difficulty in determining, 
both chronologically and geographically, the 
places of nations and peoples within the sphere 
of civilization. 

With such an outline of history before them, 
pupils may read or study the history of nations 
in any part of the world ; they may study frag- 
ments of history, as biographies of public men, 
histories of wars, histories of dynasties, histories 
of states, with a reasonable certainty that they 
will associate them with the histories of other 
nations, dynasties, wars, men and events of the 
historic cycle to which they belong. 

The study of history when recited by ques- 
tions and answers is a very dull and unprofitable 
exercise. It is far better to use some popular 
history of a nation, or a state, or a people as a 
reader for advanced classes. A teacher, by com- 



288 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ments and questions in a reading-lesson in his- 
tory, may fix in the minds of his pupils all im- 
portant events, and associate them with other 
events that will give them a proper place in 
general history. 

History, however, should be classed as a reg- 
ular branch of learning to be studied in every 
school, studied in fragments, studied in epochs, 
studied in cycles. Pupils should be required to 
state the important events connected with peri- 
ods, epochs and cycles. If fragments of history 
are to be taken up, they are always susceptible 
of methodical division and subdivision. In the 
recitation of these fragments, pupils should be re- 
quired to state, in their own language, the lead- 
ing events, their connection with other events 
and their effect upon the people in the midst of 
whom they transpired, as far as consistent with 
the scope of the lesson and the capacity of the 
learner. 

The objection to the use of historic charts in 
schools is, that they contain so much that is 
minute and immaterial, and that cannot properly 
be taught from charts, that they are more likely 
to produce confusion than to lead to systematic 
classification. If charts projected on some such 
general plan as has been here suggested are not 
published, teachers may construct on a black- 
board, or on large sheets of paper, or on skele- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 289 

ton maps, cyclical charts that will embrace the 
nations, governments and dates of important 
events belonging to each cycle. One such chart 
should comprise the Mediterranean nations, an- 
other, the Atlantic, and a third, the Pacific To 
these charts every fragment of history may be 
referred, its time and place indicated, so as to 
give the pupil a more perfect classification and 
system of combination of historic facts, than it is 
possible to obtain by any other system. 

These points, then, are important: First: 
Every school should receive from its teacher a 
general statement of the events embraced in 
each of the three historic cycles. 

Secondly: History should be studied in all 
schools, and the recitations therein should be 
conducted in such manner as to cultivate habits 
of relating briefly and correctly the facts enter- 
ing into the events, periods and epochs under 
consideration, and to associate them with other 
epochs, periods and events of the same historic 
cycle. 

Third : If, by reason of any circumstance, his- 
tory cannot be taken up as a regular study in 
any school, it should be introduced as reading- 
lessons for the advanced pupils, and into these 
reading-lessons, the teacher should infuse as 
much teaching of history as time, and capacity 
of the pupils will permit. 

25 T 



29O ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

This method presupposes teachers to be rea- 
sonably well read in historic literature. It will 
be impossible to make the study of history 
in a school interesting, if the whole stock pos- 
sessed by the teacher is only so much as he is 
able to extract from the foot-note questions in 
school text-books. There is no branch of pub- 
lic-school learning so susceptible of varied and 
interesting illustration, by the introduction of 
collateral and explanatory incidents, as the sub- 
ject of history. A teacher should ever be on 
the alert to arouse the interest of his pupils by 
frequently surprising them with agreeable illus- 
trations, not found in the text-book lessons. It 
will thus be of small consequence what particu- 
lar history a class is studying in school. The 
intelligent, active teacher, making it merely a 
text-book of suggestions, will draw to it from 
all sides the history of the whole world, so that 
when a pupil shall have gone over, for example, 
the history of the United States, he will in re- 
ality have been taught the history of the world, 
with that of the United States prominently in 
the foreground. If the class is studying the his- 
tory of a state — for example, the state in which 
the school is located — the teacher should make 
each recitation an occasion, not only to con- 
sider the events which transpired within the 
limits of that state, but also to exhibit what rela- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. 29 1 

tions those events sustained to contemporary 
events in other parts of the United States, so 
that when a class shall have completed the study 
of the history of one state, its members will 
have a general view of the history of the United 
States, with that of the particular state in the 
foreground. 




CHAPTER XV. 




FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 

]HE manufacture and arrangement of 
school furniture have been reduced to 
perfect system. Desks for the accom- 
modation of pupils are so modeled as 
to be convenient and ornamental. The styles 
of good furniture are sufficiently numerous to ac- 
commodate every demand of service and taste. 
The school authorities, whose duty it is to fur- 
nish schoolhouses, should examine the several 
patterns of desks and select that which is best 
adapted to the wants of their school; either 
of the numerous approved patterns of com- 
bined desk and seat will give satisfaction. It is 
now so easy to obtain serviceable and elegant 
furniture, that school-officers should not be ex- 
cused for lumbering up their rooms with clumsy, 
uncomfortable and inconvenient desks. 

In the arrangement of seats it is a very gen- 
eral practice to place those for the small children 

292 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 



293 



in the front part of the room and increase the 
sizes of the desks toward the rear. A more 
perfect system is to place the low desks for 
small children in the centre section of the room, 
from front to rear, and the higher desks for the 
larger pupils, in two sections, on the sides of 
the room. 

The following table serves to exhibit the rel- 
ative length, width and height of desks conve- 
nient for all grades of pupils in primary, secon- 
dary and grammar schools. Rooms for mixed 
schools should be furnished with the required 
number of seats of the several sizes to accom- 
modate all grades of pupils. 

SIZES OF SCHOOL DESKS. 



Second, 1 
Primary,/ 
Primary, . 

Secondary, 
Grammar, 



Length of Desk 
and Seat. 


Width of Desk 
Top. 

(Single and 

DouDle Desks 

the same.) 


Width of Seat. 

(Single and 
Double Desks 

the same.) 


Width from 
Desk to Desk. 

(Single and 
Double Desks 

the same.) 


Single 
Desk. 


Double 
Desk. 


18 in. 

18 " 

21 " 
24 " 


36 in. 

38 " 
40 " 
42 " 


11 inches. 

12 " 
14 " 
16 " 


9 inches. 

10 " 

11 " 

12 " 


23 inches. 

24 " 

28 " 
32 " 



Height of 

Seat. 

(Single and 

Double Desks 

the same.) - 

11 inches. 



APPARATUS. 



Apparatus has become an indispensable part 
of school furniture. The principles, elements 
and facts of almost every branch of the common- 
school curriculum, may be taught more success- 
fully by the skillful use of numerous ingenious 

25* 



294 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

contrivances constructed for that purpose. The 
uses of charts, cards and blackboards to teach 
the alphabet, spelling and reading have been 
indicated in the chapter on Elocution. 

In teaching the elements of arithmetic the 
arithmetical frame, blocks, charts and black- 
boards are useful ; in geography, maps, globes 
and the mechanical combinations of spheres are 
valuable aids to both teacher and pupil. Pen- 
manship has been reduced to such precise sys- 
tems that charts and models are used to advan- 
tage in teaching the elements and composition 
of letters. 

An expert teacher will find frequent occasion 
to improve on all the inventions of bookmakers 
and manufacturers of apparatus, and the school 
authorities, who fail to supply him with ample 
facilities in the way of convenient appliances, 
simply defraud the children of the advantages 
of the highest professional skill. Dull, book- 
bound teachers do not require apparatus — spir- 
ited, zealous, ingenious teachers do ; and their 
spirit, zeal and genius appear to best advan- 
tage when supplemented by all proper conve- 
niences for the full and free exercise of their 
power in forcing the knowledge they possess 
home to the minds of the pupils. 

Apparatus Useful in Teaching the Alphabet. — 
By reference to the directions given on teach- 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 2$$ 

ing the Alphabet from charts, and teaching with 
letter blocks, it will be seen that the system re- 
quires a full supply of simple apparatus for the 
use of the beginners in the primary schools. 

A " reading case " has been constructed so 
as to contain a series of ten or more charts in 
such manner as will admit of the production of 
combinations of three words in great variety and 
in rapid succession, by the moving of slats. This 
apparatus may be used to advantage in exer- 
cises of pronouncing and spelling at sight, and 
also in the first lessons in grammar. 

Apparatus Useful in Teaching Arithmetic. — 
The "numeral frame" is one of the oldest 
and commonest of the mechanical devices em- 
ployed in teaching arithmetic. It consists of a 
frame inclosing twelve wire cords, each cord 
bearing twelve large wooden beads ; the cords 
are of sufficient length to admit of the separa- 
tion of the beads into distinct groups. This 
frame is convenient to exercise the beginners 
in arithmetic in counting objects, and in adding, 
subtracting, multiplying and dividing objects. 
Its use is so obvious and the exercises so 
numerous and simple that explicit directions 
are unnecessary. 

The liberal use of the slate, blackboards and 
charts has elsewhere been urged. Every school 
should be provided with several small portable 



296 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

blackboards and a suitable frame upon which to 
place them before the school. Such boards will 
be employed by teachers in drilling classes and 
the whole school in standard exercises, not only 
in arithmetic, but also in music, geography, his- 
tory, grammar, botany and other sciences. A 
full supply of charts will diminish the use of 
portable boards ; nevertheless, an abundant sup- 
ply of blackboard surface, of good quality and 
convenient form, is one of the essential requisites 
to every active, earnest teacher, and no school- 
house should be deficient in this respect. 

Arithmetical Charts. — Recently a great im- 
provement has been made in arithmetical charts. 
By a mechanical device the old series of charts 
has been superseded, or rather the numerous 
single charts have been combined into one, which 
is so arranged on rollers, inclosed in a case, as 
to make it possible to present to a class, in rapid 
succession, simple combinations of numbers in 
almost endless variations. The use of such a 
contrivance enables a teacher, by simply turn- 
ing a crank, to produce exercises in numeration, 
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division 
instantly, whenever required. This is, there- 
fore, one of the greatest time-saving inventions 
yet produced by apparatus-makers, and should 
speedily take the place of the numerous series 
of single arithmetical charts now in use. 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 2^J 

Solids. — Every school should be well provided 
with form models — samples of cubes, spheres, 
spheroids, cylinders, cones, prisms, pyramids, 
etc.— convenient for illustration. The uses of 
these forms are so obvious that it is surprising 
any school should be without them. They may 
be purchased at small cost, or made in the vil- 
lage "cabinet-shop." 

Apparatus Useful in Teaching Geography. — 
The first lessons in geography consist in a 
study of the earth's surface. It is, however, 
but a very small portion of it that can be 
studied by direct observation ; hence the neces- 
sity of employing apparatus to represent to the 
mind those portions that do not come under 
immediate observation. 

The transition between the thing itself and 
the representation should at first be as slight 
as possible. It is less in passing from the 
study of the earth, by oral lessons, to the study 
on a globe than to a map ; hence the study of 
the globes should precede the study of maps. 
The globe gives the true shape of the earth, 
which maps do not. It also represents the cor- 
rect form of the bodies of land and water, which 
on maps are necessarily more or less distorted. 

No school, therefore, should be without a 
globe. Next to the blackboard, this is prob- 
ably the most important piece of apparatus 



298 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

used in teaching. From the globe, and with- 
out the use of maps and text-books, pupils may 
be taught the shape, the size and the surface 
composition of the earth, the names, relative 
location and the comparative sizes of the bodies 
of land and water lying on the earth's surface. 

Map-drawing. — The most effective method of 
studying maps is by map-drawing ; all necessary 
materials and apparatus for map-drawing should 
therefore be provided. A complete set of out- 
line maps, properly mounted on rollers and 
frames, convenient for exhibition, suitable paper, 
books and pencils, are among the essentials in 
an outfit for a class in geography. 

Tellurian. — A skillful teacher may succeed 
in teaching mathematical geography from a 
globe, but where rigid economy does not deny it, 
the school should be provided with one of those 
ingenious mechanical combinations of spheres 
known as the " Tellurian," " Lunatellus" or 
" Heliotellus." 

These instruments are chiefly useful in teach- 
ing- the revolutions of the earth around the sun 
and on its axis, the effects of these motions, the 
changes of seasons and their causes, the phe- 
nomena of day and night, the variations in the 
length of days and nights, the rising and setting 
of the sun and other terrestrial and celestial 
phenomena. 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 2gg 

The apparatus important in the successful 
teaching of geography, therefore, is a globe, a 
complete set of maps and an instrument to 
illustrate the motions of the earth and celestial 
spheres. 

Outline Maps. — The value of outline maps to 
the teacher and learner in geography is so well 
established that no school should be without 
them. As the object of these maps is to de- 
termine and impress the outline features of the 
general divisions, natural and political, those are 
best which adhere most strictly to this purpose. 
Detail in delineation is out of place. The maps 
should be so arranged in the school-room as to 
be convenient for use. The whole school may 
engage in exercises on the boundaries, capitals 
and prominent physical features in lessons that 
will interest and instruct all classes of pupils. 
By reference to the chapter on management,* 
teachers will find suggestions for the use of 
maps in oral instructions, reviews of past les- 
sons and preparations for those to come. 

A convenient device has been constructed 
whereby maps and charts are so arranged on 
frames, in a wooden case, that any map may be 
exhibited before the class at any time, while 
those not in use are protected from dust and 
exposure. 

* Page 87. 



300 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

Few schoolrooms have sufficient blank wall 
on which to suspend the maps that are needed 
by the teacher, and where there is room enough, 
it is usually above the blackboard. The charts 
suspended there are out of convenient reach, 
and consequently are seldom used. These 
difficulties are avoided by the use of this " map 
and chart case." 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 

In addition to the articles already enumerated, 
every schoolroom should be furnished with suit- 
able cases and drawers for the reception of books, 
apparatus, mineral and botanical specimens, with 
a clock, call-bell, class-bell and a few chairs for 
visitors. These are deemed necessaries ; many 
other articles and appliances are highly useful, 
and, generally, school authorities who are so for- 
tunate as to have secured the services of a suc- 
cessful, earnest, progressive teacher will do well 
to supply him with anything, that in his judgment 
would aid him in his efforts to instruct those who 
are sent to his school. Too often teachers are 
crippled, embarrassed and discouraged by the 
exercise of a mistaken economy on the part of 
patrons. The addition of the small sum of one 
hundred dollars to the cost of erecting and fur- 
nishing a schoolhouse would, in many cases, 



FURNITURE AND APPARATUS. 3OI 

greatly increase the educating powers of the 
teacher, and thus add incalculable value to the 
expenditures already made. The mechanic, who 
compels his journeyman to work with dull and 
unsuitable tools, robs himself, the farmer, who 
permits his hired man to use heavy, inconvenient 
implements, and to drive slow and poorly-fed 
horses, defrauds himself; so likewise men, who 
withhold from a school-teacher the most approved 
appliances of his profession, simply, to that ex- 
tent, diminish his power to serve them. It is the 
highest wisdom and the surest economy to sup- 
ply proper implements and to exact the best 
services, not only in the art of mechanism and 
common labor, but also in the Art of Teaching. 

26 




CHAPTER XVI 




HIGHER EDUCATION. 

YSTEMS of education as they now 
exist in all civilized nations have been 
propagated downward. Universities 
in Europe and colleges in America 
are the parents of all schools of lower grades, 
even the public schools in all parts of the coun- 
try. The parent schools gave form, character 
and scope to all others. Means of education, 
objects of education, systems of education, 
courses of study and methods of teaching now 
in use, have been dictated, or suggested by uni- 
versities and colleges, or they have been drawn 
from these and spread down over all that is 
below the fountain-head, carried forward by the 
ceaseless current of learning and schoolmasters 
that came from higher institutions. 

It is inimical to the pure atmosphere of uni- 
versity and college culture to admit of the prac- 
ticability of constructing courses of study with 

302 



HIGHER EDUCATION. 303 

respect to direct utility. In the higher insti- 
tutions the theory is, and correctly too, that 
study is prosecuted chiefly for purposes of dis- 
cipline, that ideas of liberal culture are incom- 
patible with limitations and technicalities im- 
posed by special, or professional requirements. 
According to the university system, all persons 
destined for positions in the learned professions 
must first pass a course of educational training, 
calculated to discipline the faculties of the mind 
without the risk of limiting them to the narrow 
channel of a particular profession. Men whose 
preparatory education has been conducted with 
sole reference to use in the profession in which 
they are destined to engage, are, with rare 
exceptions, at the age of maturity, so wholly 
absorbed in the work of their chosen profession, 
that other concerns of life receive from them 
little or no attention. Such men are usually 
narrow, one-sided, impractical, in short, useless 
men for any purposes of society beyond their 
professional routine. It cannot be otherwise 
than painful to witness the blundering efforts 
and ludicrous conceits of men distinguished in 
some one of the learned professions, but wholly 
ignorant of many of the life problems requiring 
practical solutions in the progress of society 
and for the advancement of humanity. 

The efforts of the ruling classes in educational 



304 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

affairs in all nations have ever been put forth to 
provide, for young men, first, a liberal training 
by instructions in branches of learning chosen 
solely with reference to their influences as dis- 
ciplining powers to all the faculties of the mind. 
The whole field of mental culture has been 
claimed on the one side by, and surrendered on 
the other side to, the authorities governing these 
institutions of learning. Technical schools, such 
as institutions of theology, medicine, law and 
polytechnics, have been encouraged as training 
schools, wherein educated men may be in- 
structed in the sciences and arts of professions. 
It thus happens that the authorities, the faculties 
in universities and in colleges, regard all schools, 
not technical, as simply preparatory schools to 
their institutions. Academies are under the 
supervision of graduates from the universities 
and colleges ; their system of teaching is that 
which was learned in these universities and col- 
leges ; the organization of private schools and 
of select schools is projected from the same 
initial sources ; " high schools," graded schools, 
mixed schools, all schools, inherit their organiza- 
tions, their courses of study, their methods of 
teaching, from the same general ancestry. 

The assumption that public schools of all 
grades and academies are to be organized and 
conducted as preparatory schools for colleges 



HIGHER EDUCATION. 305 

and universities, has proven the source of incal- 
culable mischief. Scarcely one in ten thousand 
of the boys and girls, who are in the public 
schools, ever apply to the colleges and univer- 
sities for matriculation. The one who pursues 
the course of study, entered upon in the public 
schools, through the academy and into the col- 
lege is benefitted thereby, but his ten thousand 
companions, whose education goes no further 
than the common- school course, would have 
derived much more benefit from their years 
of study, if the course of instruction had been 
constructed with reference to their wants ; if 
the elements of the material sciences, as far 
as the limits of the course would admit of, 
had been made the subjects of study, the time 
would have been much more profitably ex- 
pended. The colleges require for matriculation, 
the study of mathematics to a prescribed ex- 
tent, the study of English grammar, the study 
of geography and the reading of a limited quan- 
tity of Latin and Greek. This requirement 
imposes upon the public schools of the lower 
grades the duty of instructing pupils in mathe- 
matics, grammar and geography, and upon the 
academies and high schools the duty of in- 
structing the pupils in Latin and Greek gram- 
mar. It stands directly across the path of 
useful learning, and obstinately hinders the 

26* u 



306 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

progress of a much needed reconstruction in 
the public-school course. When the true rela- 
tions between the public schools and the higher 
institutions of learning shall have been deter- 
mined, the province and scope of each defined, 
the people, the masses, who are educated in the 
public schools, will be able to procure such a 
course of instruction in their own schools, as is 
most consistent with the objects for which they 
were established — namely, to instruct the youths 
of the state in the elements of knowledge. The 
comparatively few, who are able to study sci- 
ence and literature for purposes of culture, will 
find ample opportunity in academies and city 
" high schools" to make that special preparation 
which is required for admission to colleges. But 
it is certainly imposing great injury upon the 
masses to insist, that their schools shall be re- 
stricted to the narrow duty of preparing boys 
for college, when only one of these boys out of 
several thousands ever enters the higher insti- 
tutions. The public schools, established for the 
education of the millions, are unlike all other 
classes and grades of schools ; the distinguish- 
ing feature of the public schools is breadth; the 
characteristic of other institutions is height and 
depth ; the former seek to give useful know- 
ledge to all, the latter seek, by a system of dis- 
ciplinary studies, "to quicken the intellect and 



HIGHER EDUCATION. 307 

form it to habits of method, of analysis and of 
comprehension." 

Higher education begins at the point where 
the accumulation of knowledge ceases to be the 
primary object of study, and discipline takes its 
place. This point is not within the sphere of 
ordinary public-school education; it lies between 
the grammar and high schools in large cities, 
or between the public schools and academies. 
Whoever labors to make the public schools do 
the work of academies, to make them schools of 
culture instead of schools for the teaching of 
useful knowledge, is an enemy to public-school 
education, and to the extent of his ability works 
an injury to the Commonwealth. The propor- 
tion of pupils in the lower grades of schools in 
the large cities of the United States, who enter 
the high schools, is exceedingly small. The 
great masses are not in circumstances that will 
admit of the pursuit of learning for purposes of 
culture ; they attend school a few years in order 
to gain a knowledge of the elements of elocu- 
tion, arithmetic, geography and penmanship, and 
enough practice to give facility in the use of 
such knowledge, then to work, to trades, to 
business, into the whirl and the toils of the life 
struggle, common to a very large proportion of 
the inhabitants of this country. Because of this 
necessity, inherited by most men, the purpose 



308 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

of the public-school course must ever be the 
acquisition of useful knowledge. In the pro- 
cesses of study and methods of instruction, it 
should be the aim of teachers in these schools 
to infuse lessons, both ethical and aesthetical, so 
as to inspire the souls of the young with a love 
for the good and the beautiful. 

The profession of teaching requires the high- 
est culture in its members, who, while instruct- 
ing children in the elements of useful knowledge, 
may pour into the thirsting, capacious spirits of 
childhood copious draughts of living waters fresh 
from the fountain of perfect knowledge. Moral 
culture is not to be made the subject of occa- 
sional instruction. In the daily exercises of the 
school, in the conduct of teacher and pupils, in 
the illustrations of truths, the demonstrations of 
principles, the observations of facts and phenom- 
ena, in all places and at at all times, the spiritual 
growth of the pupils should be jealously guard- 
ed and affectionately encouraged. A sense of 
personal spiritual worthiness should be incul- 
cated. Children of all ages and conditions in 
life should be taught to hold themselves in high 
respect, to do nothing that will invoke self-cen- 
sure, or self-condemnation, the forerunners of 
degradation and debasement. Active, conscien- 
tious teaching may, in ways innumerable, scatter 
seeds of the good and the true, that will take 



HIGHER EDUCATION. 309 

root, and in the end come to a glorious fruition, 
culminating in moral and religious culture. 

The few who pass into the city high schools 
and into the academies go there in order to 
enjoy the advantages of a disciplinary course of 
instruction, incompatible with the objects of the 
schools for the masses. The higher institutions 
must, therefore, if they are to satisfy the long- 
ings of those who enter them, provide ample 
facilities, in a skillfully-devised curriculum, for a 
disciplinary training that will give power and 
goodness as its resultant. 

The science of language, pure mathematics, 
the philosophy of the mind and cosmology 
may properly find place in a disciplinary course 
of studies. Language, mathematics and science, 
in their numerous systems and combinations, 
present a series of subjects which can be studied 
in groups of three, so that the student will daily 
recite a lesson in language, in science and in 
mathematics. The curriculum of studies should 
be so constructed as to present only three stud- 
ies to a student in each term. The Faculty 
should be so organized as to provide a teacher 
for each department of language and literature, 
mathematics, and philosophy. Whether in a 
high school, an academy, or college, no man is a 
mental Briareus, and he who attempts to teach 
classes in a wide range of diversified subjects 



310 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

will not teach anything thoroughly. A teacher, 
to be successful, must be a student ; the higher 
the grade of institution in which he teaches, the 
more imperative the necessity for close applica- 
tion to study. A professor in a college, or acad- 
emy, and a teacher in a high school, who is not 
a close student, no matter what his educational 
advantages have been, is at best a superficial, 
technical, narrow teacher, and qualis magister> 
talis discipulus. 




CHAPTER XVII. 



GOVERNMENT. 




OVERNMENT, as applied to indi- 
viduals, is derived from two sources: 
the governing power is within and 
directs, or it is without and controls. 
Either men govern themselves, or they are 
governed by others. A man who governs 
himself is a positive element in the government 
of society ; a man who does not govern himself 
is either a passive, or a negative element in the 
government of society. Those who do not 
govern themselves must be governed. To the 
self-governed belongs the right, and upon them 
is imposed the duty, of governing those who do 
not govern themselves. Laws have their origin 
in, and derive their force from that part of the 
population of the Commonwealth that is self- 
governing. It is they who establish, support 
and defend governments ; it is they who enact 
just laws and mercifully enforce them. Where 
the population of any state is nearly equally 

311 



312 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

divided between the self-governing and the non- 
self-governing citizens, the government will ne- 
cessarily be unstable, but where the self-govern- 
ing element largely predominates in the citizen- 
ship of any state, the government will be secure 
in its establishment, equitable in its provisions 
and just in its enforcement of laws. The train- 
ing institutions of a government, therefore, 
should be so organized and conducted as to 
cultivate habits of self-eovernment. A Com- 
monwealth is strengthened and enriched by the 
growth of a self-governing population, but it 
is weakened and impoverished by the increase 
of a class of citizens that must be controlled, 
that must be constrained, that must be forced 
to obey righteous laws. 

The public schools are institutions of the 
Commonwealth; in them the youth should be 
educated, not only in the elements of useful 
knowledge, but they should be trained in the 
exercise of their mental forces, so as to enable 
them to grow up useful, power-giving and 
wealth-producing citizens. The genius of the 
government of the Commonwealth should find 
an exemplification in the government of every 
school in that Commonwealth. It is not enough 
for the purposes of the state, that the schools 
shall be so governed as to maintain order and 
to enforce discipline. Order must be secured 



G O VERNMENT. 3 I 3 

and discipline must be sustained, not through 
physical power, or the fear which arises from 
the apprehension of the exercise of the physi- 
cal power possessed by the teacher, but they 
must be the result of a system of training that 
cultivates in the pupils habits of self-govern- 
ment. 

A code of laws, or rules submitted for the 
government of a school is not very likely to 
secure permanent good. A more profitable 
method will be found in the explanation and 
application of a few of the simple fundamental 
rules of life — those principles which should 
govern the actions of men and their conduct 
toward others. Duty to self, duty to others, 
are texts upon which the teacher may enlarge 
until he is quite certain that their full force is 
understood and felt by all the pupils — how 
injury intended for others reverts upon self; 
how every act inconsistent with the highest duty 
to others reflects upon and debases the actor ; 
how the happiness of children and of adults 
may be destroyed by selfishness, by covetous- 
ness, by prevarication, by falsehoods, by de- 
ceptions ; how doing good to others ennobles 
one's self, expands one's power, enlarges the 
heart of the actor. " Therefore, all things what- 
soever ye would that men should do to you, do 
ye even so to them : for this is the law and the 

27 



314 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

prophets." This should be made the funda- 
mental law, the constitution, of every school 
government; it may be explained, illustrated and 
applied as circumstances arise in the conduct 
of school affairs. 

These general suggestions are applicable to 
schools of all grades, and will differ only in 
methods of application, as the capacity and com- 
prehension of the members of the school may 
indicate. In primary and mixed schools the 
teacher should, on the day of opening the term, 
and at proper intervals thereafter, explain in a 
general way the purposes for which the school 
is established, the objects for which pupils at- 
tend it. He may show how, by misconduct of 
any sort, these objects may be thwarted and the 
purpose defeated, and how, by the proper con- 
duct of each pupil, the interests of all will be 
promoted. Every pupil comes to school to ac- 
quire knowledge ; each individual should ad- 
dress himself to that work, and should recognize 
the fact, that all of his associates are there for 
the same purpose. Teachers are employed at 
considerable expense to the district, not to main- 
tain order among the boys and girls, to govern 
them, but to teach them, to aid them in their 
efforts to accumulate knowledge. If, therefore, 
a teacher is required to devote a considerable 
portion of his time to enforcing discipline, the 



G O VERNMENT. 3 I 5 

pupils will to that extent be defrauded of his 
services as an instructor and assistant in their 
labors. 

Whenever, during the progress of the' school, 
cases of infractions of good conduct occur, the 
teacher may avail himself of the opportunity to 
explain how such conduct affects the whole 
school, how it injures every member of that 
school, how it disturbs the general good order, 
how it interferes with the application of the mind 
to healthful study, how it exerts generally a de- 
moralizing influence on the whole school. He 
thus shows that any member of the school guilty 
of such breach of order is in reality a public en- 
emy, not only injuring himself, but injuring all 
his associates and companions; that he is not 
sinning against the teacher, but against his fel- 
low-pupils. Then the moral force of the com- 
munity is invoked to suppress unruliness. Those 
who eovern themselves exert an influence over 
others far more keenly felt by the offender than 
any words, or chastisement, that could be inflicted 
by the teacher. There is a public sentiment in 
favor of good order, and whoever in the least 
violates good order in the school encounters 
that public sentiment, and is thereby rebuked. 

A general system of government, based upon 
the self-governing elements in the schools, is 
preferable to a code of prescribed laws, for the 



316 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

reason that it cultivates habits of self-govern- 
ment in all the pupils and exhibits the force of 
that power, whenever a restraining influence is 
required to maintain order. Rules cannot be 
devised to meet every case of discipline required 
in school government. The circumstances that 
invoked the offence, the character of the offender, 
the general discipline of the school, the public 
sentiment in the neighborhood, the social status 

<Z> ' 

of the offending pupil, his health, his age, and 
many other considerations, — enter as important 
elements in the case, which the teacher is called 
upon to try and to determine and to punish. 
If laws are laid down, they must be enforced, or 
they invoke demoralization, yet it not unfrequent- 
ly happens, that the enforcement of the law works 
a greater injury than its violation. 

Teachers must be careful not to require too 
much of pupils, not to set up a Procrustean 
frame, to the length of which every pupil must 
be stretched or chopped. The inflexibility of 
rules and the flexibility of the self-governing 
system makes the latter eminently preferable, 
under circumstances where the largest variety 
of cases are most likely to arise, in the treatment 
of which love and mercy must always temper 
the administration of justice. 

The doctrines of proper respect for the rights 
and conditions of others should be thoroughly 



GOVERNMENT. 



31/ 



inculcated. Whether in moving about the school- 
room, whether in passing in and out, whether in 
going to and returning from school, pupils should 
be instructed to so conduct themselves as to 
enjoy the largest liberty and the fullest freedom 
of conduct, compatible with a similar enjoyment 
of these rights and privileges by those with 
whom they are associated. Teachers must 
closely observe the conduct of their pupils in 
all the relations of school-day life, and wher- 
ever a breach of the general idea of equality of 
rights and the enjoyment of privileges occur, 
the proper remedy should be applied in such 
way as will direct the attention of the members 
of the school to the fact, that such conduct as 
calls forth rebuke is a trespass upon the rights 
and privileges of society. How these same 
principles are applicable to the affairs of life, 
teachers may frequently explain and illustrate. 
By a system of government thus derived and 
founded, morality is taught in the every-day life 
of the school-room, and a high degree of moral 
culture is secured, which will ever manifest itself 
in the self-governing conduct of the pupils in 

every vicissitude of life. 

27 * 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 

|HE public good requires that the book 
question, as it affects the public 
schools, should be settled in the inter- 
ests of the people. The rapacity of 
school-book publishers must be repressed. The 
corrupting influence of the trade as now prac- 
ticed must be counteracted, and the character 
of the books to be used by the people must be 
radically improved. The frequent changes from 
one series of books to another, in all the branches 
taught in the public schools, has greatly increased 
the labor of school-directors, is embarrassing to 
teachers, expensive to parents and demoralizing 
to pupils. The chief abuse is found first, in 
the multiplication of books into an extended 
series on each common- school branch. This 
pernicious practice has grown out of the nature 
of the schools as they were a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago. There was then no classification; 
each pupil brought such book into school as he 



BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 3T9 

chanced to find at home, and prosecuted his 
studies as best he might alone. Thus, for exam- 
ple, an arithmetic of some forgotten author was 
used by a pupil, who sat at his desk solving such 
problems as he was able to, and applied to the 
teacher for solutions of those beyond his com- 
prehension ; all of these were transferred from 
the slate into the "sum-book." The pupils 
were in no case arranged in classes, so as to 
study arithmetic together, and never received 
explanations of the principles thereof from the 
teacher. 

Similar methods obtained in the study of 
reading, geography and grammar ; only two or 
three " readers " were in use ; a history of the 
United States, some general history, the New 
Testament, or any miscellaneous book might be 
taken into school and read. Where two or 
more pupils happened to have the same book, 
they were placed in a class together. This was 
of old the uniform practice. The system of 
classifying the pupils in the public schools is of 
recent adoption ; the advantages of the change 
are so universally admitted that it would be 
superfluous to present an argument here in its 
favor. In all schools, pupils of the same aver- 
age capacity are now required to purchase the 
same books and to pursue their studies together. 
All that was formerly taught in the majority of 



320 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

the public schools was reading and arithmetic. 
In a few isolated cases, geography, or grammar 
was taught. 

It will be seen, therefore, that pupils from the 
age of six years to sixteen, the usual school- 
years, were compelled to devote all of that period 
of ten important years to the study of two or 
three, or at most four, branches. Book pub- 
lishers were quick to discover that here was oc- 
casion for the multiplication of books. Keep- 
ing a bright boy or girl on the subject of arith- 
metic for eight or ten years was a feat, not to be 
accomplished by the use of a single book; there- 
fore the idea of a " primary," a " common-school" 
and a " higher arithmetic" was originated and 
speedily became a practical fact. The same ob- 
servation may be made with reference to other 
public-school branches. 

The subject of English grammar is served up 
in three books, the " Elementary," the " Com- 
mon-school " and the " Analytic." Geography 
is diluted through a series of three or four 
books — the " Primary," the " Secondary," the 
" Common-school " and the " Comprehensive." 
Arithmetic has far outrun its original scope, and 
we now have " Mental," " Intellectual," " School 
Arithmetic" and " Higher Arithmetic." 

The occasion for the multiplication of these 
books was not in any sense found in the sub- 



BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 32 1 

ject of the sciences, but arose from the con- 
dition of the schools, which was taken advan- 
tage of by bookmakers and converted to their 
own profit. The extension of the subject of 
reading into a series of six or eight books is a 
scheme invented by, and solely for the benefit 
of those who are interested in making and sell- 
ing books. As to arithmetic, the whole subject, 
as far as it is material and useful to teach it in 
the public schools, to the millions of boys and 
girls who frequent them, can be and should be 
treated in one small volume, and it would be so 
treated if the interests of the people alone were 
consulted. 

The schools of the people have risen from the 
low and formative condition in which they were 
held thirty years ago. The whole system of in- 
struction has been elevated, more is demanded 
in the way of elementary training, and more is 
given. Teaching, which was then deemed to be 
a servile vocation, has taken an honorable posi- 
tion, and is with forcible dignity asserting its 
claims to be ranked as one of the " learned pro- 
fessions." Teachers are respected because 
their intellectual attainments and their general 
culture and high social qualities command the 
esteem of the most refined circles of society. 
The public school is no longer a place wherein 
to gain a little facility in the art of reading, writ- 



322 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ing and ciphering, but an institution wherein to 
instruct the youth of the country in the elements 
of a liberal education. 

The whole period of school-life is no longer 
to be devoted to the study of two or three sim- 
ple branches, to which is attached a vulgar idea 
of utility. A number of sciences have been so 
simplified in their elements by the progress of 
investigation, that the essential truths of many 
of these can be successfully taught in our pub- 
lic schools. Thus has been simplified the science 
of botany, of anatomy and physiology, of natural 
philosophy, chemistry, geology and astronomy. 
There are educated teachers, who now find 
employment in school-rooms, able to teach 
these sciences, and to take classes through alge- 
bra, geometry and surveying. History, no longer 
used as a mere reading book, is now regularly 
taught as one of the most profitable studies in 
the school. Drawing, physical geography, the 
elements of mechanics, the principles of engi- 
neering, have been so reduced to system that 
they may with profit be introduced into the 
public schools. These new studies, pressing 
upon the attention of the pupil and demanding 
a place in the common schools, will repress the 
magnified importance heretofore given to read- 
ing, arithmetic, geography and grammar. These 
sciences are found to be more useful and more 



BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 323 

agreeable than those which they assail for room, 
and their influence on the minds of the pupils is 
more salutary and elevating. The common 
schools are for the education of the great mil- 
lions in this country. There the pupils receive 
their educational training ; comparatively few go 
beyond the elements of a common-school course. 
It should be the aim of those who have in 
charge the arrangement of public-school edu- 
cation, to give to the children as large a store 
of facts in all the sciences as is possible, having 
regard to the age, comprehension and school- 
period of the pupil. Unquestionably, therefore, 
the system of bookmaking must be changed. 
We must go back to the original idea of treat- 
ing subjects in the closest compass consistent 
with a fair elucidation of the principles, necessary 
to a comprehension of the science under consid- 
eration. Reading must be taught in the primer, 
speller and the reader. Arithmetic, "mental" 
and ''written," must be compressed within the 
limits of one common-school book. The rules 
that are of use in the whole range of business 
transactions are few in number and simple in 
their character; these can be explained and 
illustrated in one small, convenient volume. 
The idea that books must be lumbered up with 
puzzling examples to weary the teacher, embar- 
rass the pupil and consume time is one of those 



324 ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

ancient absurdities, that the present generation 
must cast away. They were placed in our books 
in olden times because they served to discipline 
the mind, and because there was no system of 
physical sciences to take their places in the cur- 
riculum of studies. A more enlightened philos- 
ophy teaches us, that the acquisition of know- 
ledge most effectually disciplines the mind, and 
the exploration of nature in the operations of 
science furnishes new fields wherein to reap rich 
harvests of soul-inspiring truths. The facts in 
science, and the philosophy which combines these 
facts into sciences, are more readily acquired and 
more easily comprehended than a confused and 
senseless jumble of figures, that illustrate pro- 
cesses useful only to discipline, and even in that 
sense no longer profitable exercises, when com- 
pared with the study of the natural sciences. 
The mind is not only to be disciplined, but it is 
to be stored with materials upon which to exer- 
cise its thinking powers. There is little danger 
that book-publishers will not be quick enough 
to scent this new condition of things in the pub- 
lic schools. Authors will be called upon to con- 
dense their numerous series into single volumes 
when the parent insists that he shall purchase 
the subject of arithmetic in one small, cheap 
book, and shall not be taxed with the expense of 
four or five. As soon as the pupil discovers 



BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 325 

that the subject may be mastered within a small 
compass, and as soon as the teacher resolves to 
carry his class into new fields of discovery, the 
majority of publishers will make haste to supply 
the demand. The onus of the work, therefore, 
necessary to break down this bungling system 
that is now in use, and of substituting one that 
is more in accordance with the wants of the 
times, rests rather with school men than with 
bookmakers. 

A very pernicious practice, demoralizing 
teachers and pupils, increasing the expenses 
of education and corrupting the school authori- 
ties, is the system by which worthless school- 
books are frequently inflicted upon the pub- 
lic. Agents are employed at great expense 
and are sent out into all parts of the country to 
visit school-directors, to ply teachers and to 
labor by means, both honorable and dishonor- 
able, to force the publications they represent into 
schools. It thus frequently happens that without 
any recommendation of superiority whatever, a 
series of books, including readers, copy-books, 
arithmetics, grammars and geographies, in use in 
a school-district, are thrown out and new books 
introduced. The parents are compelled to pur- 
chase books that are in no way superior — very 
often, indeed, not equal — in merit to those that 
they have laid aside. Frequently old books are 

28 



326 THE ART OF TEACHING SCHOOL. 

purchased by the house that presents the new 
books; in other instances the new books are 
given gratuitously to those who have the old, 
but it must be apparent to every one possessed 
of the slightest knowledge of the laws of trade, 
that all this loss, this extraordinary expense, must 
finally be made up by the sale of these very 
books. 

School-books, which might be furnished at 
small cost, are made expensive by the system 
that contributes so largely to demoralize school- 
officers. Book-publishers themselves have felt 
the full effects of these practices, and have 
labored by " boards of trade" and by private 
agreements to repress and abolish them, but 
all these efforts have hitherto failed. The 
people, therefore, must have recourse to 
legislation for their own protection, as well as 
for the protection of bookmakers and booksell- 
ers. The influence of normal schools, and the 
fact that teachers are interested in the elevation 
of the standard of qualification, tend to hasten 
the period, when the number of books to be used 
will be greatly reduced. Then the temptation 
to grasp and control a trade which has hitherto 
proven a prize so tempting as to demoralize and 
corrupt all who engaged in it will, to a great ex- 
tent, be removed. The facts that are now set forth, 
and repeated through numerous combinations, 



BOOKS, MANUFACTURE AND SALE. 327 

in the most bungling manner, in order to multiply 
books, will be communicated directly and prac- 
tically by the teacher, and the principles, which 
bind these facts into sciences, will be elaborated 
in convenient books. It is the province of 
normal schools and teachers to hasten this pe- 
riod, and when it arrives, part of the result 
will be, that the funds, now uselessly expended 
in the purchase of books, will be much more 
profitably employed in increasing the salaries 
of teachers, and in otherwise strengthening the 
forces, that tend to advance and perfect the 
system of schools and methods of instruction, 
supported by, and provided for the education 
of, all the people. 



THE END. 



